<Begin Segment 47>

AI: Well, going backwards a little bit, back a little farther in time, something else that happened, in the midst of all this, all your work toward justice, another thing that happened for you personally is that you went to Japan.

AS: Uh-huh.

AI: And you and Betty went in the mid-1980s.

AS: '84.

AI: '84. And I wanted to ask you a little bit about that because, had you ever been to Japan before?

AS: No.

AI: Never. So this was your first trip?

AS: Uh-huh.

AI: And so tell me about that trip. Where did you go and what was that like for you?

AS: Well, the first two weeks, well actually, we signed up in San Francisco but actually the tour originated in Tokyo. So people from different parts of the country went to Tokyo and that's how, that's where we got together. And I think there were twenty-two or twenty-four of us, and only six of 'em were Japanese Americans, and the rest of 'em were all hakujins. And I didn't know this at the time, but afterwards I found out that to go to Japan it's better to go with hakujins because they say if you're all Niseis they don't treat you as good. Because Nisei don't complain, hakujins do, so, so they get treated a little better. That's what they say, I don't know for sure. So then the first two weeks that originated in Tokyo, and the first week, the first two weeks we went to Ura Nihon Tour and, and that must be, that must have been one of the first ones because whenever we got off the bus and we went wherever, the bus driver used to go with us. And in Japan they always have a man and young girl tour guides. And that girl used to tag along, too. So I was wondering, "How come?" And so the bus driver said, oh, he, they'd never been on that side before. And he said that that's the first time that he was gonna stand with the tour for the whole two weeks. So usually it's only three or four days and then they would go back and somebody else, I mean, go on a different tour. Very seldom you go two-and-a-half -- I mean, two weeks' tour all in one time. And so, so that's what happened. So Ura Nihon Tour for two weeks and then we, we came back to, although the tour started in Tokyo, it ended in Kyoto.

AI: Oh.

AS: And at that time it worked out for us because Betty had a niece in Kyoto. So then she met us there in Kyoto when we, when we got back. And we stayed with her for a few days.

AI: So what was that like when, for you to be in Japan for the first time, and be among all these Japanese people and seeing all these sights?

AS: Oh, it was nice, eating all the Japanese food every day. That was really nice.

AI: Even though you'd never been there before, did it seem kind of familiar, or was it foreign to you?

AS: It was, it was kinda foreign because, because Ura Nihon is no big city there. If you go on the west -- I mean on the Pacific side it's all big cities and just like the States, except the signs are in Japanese. But back there, it's in the country mostly, so it's kind of different. Sometimes you, even when they speak, they have little bit different dialects, so, so it's kinda unusual.

AI: A little harder to understand them?

AS: Yeah.

AI: So then you came to Kyoto?

AS: Kyoto, and then we spent some time with Betty's niece. And then from there we went to Osaka. And Osaka, Betty had a cousin, cousin in Osaka, so we stayed there for, I don't know, four days or so. And then from there we went to Okayama. That's where Betty's parents are from. And she had another cousin there. So we stayed with them for, for a few weeks -- I mean, not a few weeks, a few days. And there they treated us real good. I mean, exceptionally, because they had a younger, younger people there that spoke a little English. The other places we had to speak nothing but Japanese, except the niece, the niece in (Kyoto). She's from the States, so, so we were able to communicate in English there. But in Okayama they didn't speak English and even the younger ones, they spoke a little bit English, but there, see, the year before, the year before we went or two years before we went, Betty's parents went to Japan. And, well, actually they were gonna go before that but the Gulf War broke out so, so they postponed it. And by the time they were ready to go -- well, actually before, even the sister or one of the brothers were gonna go with them. But when they decided to go, they couldn't go. And, and my son was, he wasn't going to school at that time. So I said to him, so we said to him, "How about tagging along with grandma and grandpa to Japan?" And he says, "Why would I wanna do that?" He says, "I cannot, I don't speak Japanese." And he said, "And they're gonna be talking to themselves and I'm gonna be sitting in the corner" -- [laughs] -- "and not understanding them and things like that." Well, I said, "Well, they're both eighty and they're getting kind of old and we should send somebody young with them." And then, so, we said, "Well, think about it." And couple days later he says, "Okay." Said, "I'll go." So he went and he had a good time because over there, the younger ones wanted to practice English, so they were, you know, all this, and then the cousins, too, they, they treating him real good because he says in Japan now, even the younger ones don't take care of their older, you know, the old folks like that. And he says, and you come, then they're really, really treated him real good, all that. So when we went and they said, "Oh, you're Brian's dad," they said, so they making a big thing out of it. [Laughs]

AI: Oh.

AS: So then from there we went to, we went to Osaka. And there, Betty has another cousin there. And this cousin's son-in-law, he came to Stanford. He worked for Hitachi. And Hitachi sent him to Stanford because he's in the research department. And so, while he was in Stanford he, he visited us a few times and then even, even afterwards when he went back to Japan and Hitachi used to send him to San Jose, because San Jose has Hitachi things. And so, so, then every time he came, since he knew his way around, we just let him have one of the cars and he would come and... he usually stayed there for a week or so. So he would call me and have dinner with us a couple times. But, plus, he has other friends and he used to spend time with the professor who was there and things like that. So actually, we just let him have the car and he's on his own. So then, there, too, they said, "Oh, you took care of my son-in-law real good," and all that so we got big treatment there, too. And then, from there we went to Fukuoka, my side of the family. Oh, no, no, first we went to Nagasaki. Nagasaki we looked around there and then we went to Fukuoka, to my side, and there, my cousins, they're, two of 'em are doctors, and one is a schoolteacher. So the schoolteacher spoke English but the rest of 'em all Japanese.

AI: How was that for you to communicate in Japanese?

AS: So --

AI: 'Cause you...

AS: But then, you know, since I went to Japanese school in camp, now my Japanese was a little better. But then, I, I, after camp I didn't use it much, right? In Seabrook or even here in San Jose. Once in a while we'd get a Japanese national and we might use it. And with Betty's parents, especially the mother, I was speaking Japanese to her. So then, since I was using Japanese all the time back there, my Japanese started getting better. I mean, not better, but it used to come out better. It was up here, but you, since you don't use it you get kinda rusty. So then I came back, I came back to San Jose. And I have a neighbor, a Japanese national. And then, so he asked, so she said, "Oh, you're back." She says, "How was Japan?" Oh, blah, blah, blah, this and that. And she says, "Gee," she says, "you've been in Japan for five and a half weeks," she said, "You sure learned a lot of Japanese." And I said, "Oh, no, no, no, no." I says, "Because I was forced to use it every day for five weeks," I said, "now Japanese come out easier." She says, she said, "Oh, that's what happened?" [Laughs]

AI: So, eventually it all, it came back to you and...

AS: Yeah, so it was a lot easier to use it. Just like the time I went to Spain. First couple days I was having problems, but it came back a little bit at a time.

<End Segment 47> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.