<Begin Segment 17>

AI: And so, at that time, when you were in Japan and we were talking earlier again, before the break, we were talking about how you were at this very prestigious school.

RM: Uh-huh.

AI: And that, and you were just continuing your life there in the village and maybe thinking that you would live your life there in Japan? Were you starting to -- in yourself, did you think of yourself as Japanese or did you still think, "I'm foreign-born, I'm American citizen?"

RM: Well, at the time I didn't think whether gonna stay there or come back to... but later on something happened and made me to come back. But at the time, well, more or less concentrating on study so didn't think of it, I make a living in Japan or I don't know what I do or... at the time, I didn't... in this country, you take a major, the courses you like to be interested in, maybe go in that field. But in Japan, see, compulsory, you have to take everything so you don't know what gonna do. And your choice you're gonna do but couldn't concentrating on that, but too many things. So, right now, to me, their system is wrong, but, to me.

AI: But at the time, at the time you didn't really --

RM: So I didn't think of it. I didn't realize. I mean, I never thought of what I'm gonna be. And I like photography because my (father) was a photographer. So as a hobby I had camera, and some, took a poor picture, snapshot, but anyway, I was interested. Later on came in handy but now I got a collection, lot of pictures. But at the time I didn't know what I'm gonna be.

AI: Well, and speaking of photography and your father, I think you mentioned about the time you were around thirteen or fourteen, your father and mother and other brothers and sisters came to Japan.

RM: Yeah, well, but see, I was living in the village, see, with my grandfather. But they, you see, you cannot open up a photo studio in a little village, so he went to city, Hiroshima, in center of that. And so happened that that's the place dropped bomb and the epicenter was two blocks away.

AI: Well, we'll get back to that later.

RM: And that's the other day, I took Karen and the family to Japan and show 'em the exhibit, where that was, very close because -- but that's why when I was in China -- we'll come to it later.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.