<Begin Segment 46>

TI: So where'd you, where'd you return to? Which, which port?

TA: Returned to San Francisco, of course, and then to, back to Cressey.

TI: Okay.

TA: Cressey is where my mother -- my uncles all lived.

TI: Uh-huh.

TA: And so I went to Cressey, and soon found that it didn't fulfill my objective of one, getting an education, two, earning enough money to --

TI: Well, before we get there, what was the reaction of your Uncle Frank and other family members when you returned?

TA: Oh, it was great. I mean, they welcomed me, and, and they asked me questions about Japan and, and they said that, "Too bad that you didn't stay, you could have stayed."

TI: Oh, stayed in the United States and not go to Japan?

TA: Yeah, yeah. He says, you could have, you should have, but, of course, they respected my mother's choice for us to go. So it was a nice welcome.

TI: Well, I'm curious, too, when you were approaching the United States, and... how did you feel? What did it feel like coming back to the United States after these, these years?

TA: Well, like anything, I sort of reflected on my father. I says, "Gee, this must be like my father returning -- coming to the United States."

CO: Oh, coming, yeah.

TA: 'Cause he was about the same age, and traveling alone, and coming, going to the United States. And here I'm in the same situation: all by myself, returning to the United States, and I reflected on that a little bit, but I was a little bit apprehensive, because I didn't know really how my uncles would accept me, how I would fit into the, in the community. I, you know, to the family, that went through a different type of hardship. And so there's sort of a lack, there's a gap to be filled. But that rapidly filled up, I mean, after all, they're my uncles, they, they gave me advice, they told me what to do, and said that, "You could stay here and farm, but, of course," he says, "we won't be able to compensate you," because they were not in a position to do it, however, I was welcome to work, there was plenty of work to do. And I, I did a little bit of work, but then I, I told my uncle, I says, I would rather, maybe go to Uncle Masuji's -- this is my uncle in Berkeley, and perhaps I can work there and then go to school. (Narr. note: My uncle Masuji Fujii is my aunt Hiro (mother's sister's) husband.) And Berkeley High was known to be a good high school, so they agreed, they called my uncle Masuji and said, "Motomu would like to go," and they said, "Oh, yeah. Come on over." Said, "We got plenty of room." And so I left Cressey and went to Berkeley.

<End Segment 46> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.