Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Mae Kanazawa Hara Interview
Narrator: Mae Kanazawa Hara
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: July 15, 2004
Densho ID: denshovh-hmae-01-0005

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MH: And then, 1933 was another eventful (...) time, because that was when the Century of Progress was on in Chicago, and my cousin and I got a job for the summer at the Japanese pavilion. That was the exhibit put on by the Japanese government. It was a lovely tea house. (...) That's where they introduced this green tea drink. And they put (a couple teaspoons of) powdered green tea that you use for the tea ceremony, (...) just a little bit of sugar with lemon, and they shook it up with water and they served it with a maraschino cherry. And that became a very, very popular drink that (was) featured at this Japanese pavilion. (...) The pavilion had all kinds of exhibits of silk-making, art and craftwork (of all kinds). It was all on exhibit, and our job was to stand and explain and introduce them. So we spent the summer (...) of '33 working, which made it possible for me to stay on and study for another year or two. So that's how I got my education in Chicago, which was very unexpected.

AI: Well, let me ask you, it must have been quite unusual at that time for you as a Japanese American, Nisei woman, there must have been very few of you in Chicago at that time.

MH: Well, there were some. (...) I have some pictures of it. On the opening night (of the World's Fair) we were all dressed in Japanese kimono and helped usher. And then another high point at the fair was the opening concert of 5,000 voices, with, I think, 200 members of the Chicago Symphony accompanied them. And (Dr.) George L. Tenney, our (...) choir director was directing Handel's Messiah and in (...) Soldier's Field, and that was an experience. And my cousin and I were the only two Japanese participating in this mass (choir) of 5,000 voices. And sky was the limit, and it was really something that I'll never forget. It's very vivid in my mind. There's a panoramic picture of this someplace that I have lost and I feel badly. And I, we could pick out my cousin and I because it just happened to be a tree in the distance that we happened to be standing right in front, and to be able to pick up in this, was quite interesting. But that was, it certainly enriched our life in Chicago, so I stayed on 'til 1935.

AI: I'm wondering if you're... it sounds to me that would also be quite unusual for Issei parents to allow their daughter to go so far away.

MH: Yes. See, we were sent for just this two weeks' conference, and then to turn out to be three years, and then for things to develop like that was just... it just seemed unbelievable. And my life in three years in Chicago and in the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. N. Rodeheaver was something that's been very, I'm sure has had a lot to do in influencing my thinking and my future life.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.