<Begin Segment 2>

TK: Have you ever been to Hiroshima and to his, your father's home at all?

MT: Yes, I did.

TK: Could you describe it the way you see it?

MT: Yes. I took my first trip to Japan in 1955 and then I... the flight over, in those days it was a propeller airplane that brought us in from Seattle. And we went to Anchorage, loaded gas in Anchorage and on into Tokyo. But as we came in over Tokyo it was quite emotional for me to feel that my dad had been born and raised here and many years ago had immigrated to the United States and so I felt very emotional and very pleased that I had this opportunity of getting to Japan.

Those days, Japan, after we got, went in Northwest Airlines, we landed in Tokyo at Haneda Airport and from Haneda we took an airplane from Tokyo to Hiroshima. But those days, Hiroshima Airport wasn't opened yet, 1955, so we took a little airplane from, well, it's All Nippon Airways now but at that time it was just a small feeder flight, airline then. And we landed in Iwakuni, and, but, I flew from Tokyo to Hiroshima on Japan Airline, but -- I mean, to Osaka and from Osaka to Iwakuni went on All Nippon when it was a small feeder line. And so at that time there weren't too many people flying and so I was the only passenger flying with them and so my relatives, which is my brother-in-law, we had a sister in Japan that I never met that was born and raised in Japan and never did come to, was raised by the grandmother. And so I'm meeting her for the first time, but they met me in Iwakuni and they were surprised that I was the only passenger on the All Nippon Airways, airplane and they wanted to know if I chartered it or not, but I felt good.

But we took a bus from Iwakuni into Hiroshima and went to the old house. He was the... my brother-in-law was chairman of the city council of Hiroshima. And so he lived right in the city and I stayed with him the first night and visited with him because I only went there for, I thought with the idea that I would stay there just a couple of days and then come back to Tokyo. And they took me to Kusatsu, which is near where Dad was born and raised and it's up a little slope on the hillside.

TK: Was that Ko-, what was the name of that place? Kutatsu?

MT: Kusatsu was where my brother-in-law lived.

TK: Kusatsu.

MT: And then from there we got off a train and then went to, it's called Takata.

TK: Takata. Takata?

MY: Uh-huh.

TK: Okay.

MT: And so I, for the first time I was able to visit the old rice farm and the old house that they were born and raised in, and first time I've seen a kura where they keep all of the extra furniture and things like that in a, it's a storage, I guess, and so... but I was fascinated the fact that it was an old house and to visualize that he was born and raised there and grew up there was quite an emotional thing for me.

TI: What were some of your impressions about the place? I mean, it's something, when you think back now what are the things that you think about and remember from that place?

MT: Well, it's an older house and 'course, the only thing I can compare that with is, when were small we always saw the Japanese movies that came from Japan where the samurais and old homes and things like that. So it looked exactly like that because it wasn't a terribly large home but it was built very solidly with keyaki wood, oak wood and had shoji, and so... but it was a very old, old house that...

TK: Was it a large house?

MT: It was quite large for, for that area, I believe, and I couldn't say just how large it was, but it was a typical old Japanese house that you wouldn't see it at this time.

TI: Is it still in existence today?

MT: No, we tore it down and built new homes and, and my brother finally sold the property there.

TI: I'm curious, when you went to Japan, was this the first time you had met the people, your father's relatives?

MT: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

TI: What was the reaction? What, how was the reception when you, when you came there?

MT: Well, it was quite interesting because I stayed at the, I think George Kawaguchi had a travel agency at that time and I booked through him and he made an appointment to, reservations in the Kokusai Kanko Hotel at Tokyo, near the Tokyo eki. And so I was, the purpose I was there to, was to make a... have a yacht made over there in Japan and, which was designed by Ed Monk, naval architect here in Seattle. But Mother had already written my Yanagatsubo niisan, which is my brother-in-law, and so hesitantly, I think the second day or third day, he called from Hiroshima to the Kokusai Kanko Hotel and he was sure, I guess, I didn't speak any (Japanese). And so he says, "My name is Yanagatsubo." And I said, "Niisan, Minoru desu." I could here him say, "Haruko, hayaku, hayaku. Minoru ga Nihongo hanaseru. And it was quite an introduction to him and so it made it a lot easier for me. So when we got to Hiroshima it was quite emotional to meet my brother-in-law and my sister for the first time. And so, but lot of people will ask, "Well, Min" -- like you're asking -- "how was it?" But over here, if we met (someone) for the first time, especially a relative, we have a tendency to embrace. And they asked me, "Did the Japanese people embrace you?" And I said, "No." We shook hands but we held hands and it was very, very emotional that way. And so that was my introduction to my sister and brother-in-law in Japan.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.