<Begin Segment 26>

AI: So where were you living in Portland?

MN: It's not there anymore, the house we rented. The Coliseum had been built in that area. But the house we were renting was close to the dental school, so he could, he was able to walk to school every day.

AI: And then what did, what were you doing then?

MN: I worked for the, the army, the reserve, in Vancouver, Washington, so I commuted every day to Vancouver, Washington.

AI: How did you get that job, and how...

MN: I have no idea how I got the job, but I was able to get a job.

AI: I think that's so interesting, because still, that's only a few years after the war, and to be in the Army Reserve office, how was that, that situation for you?

MN: It was fine, but it was a difficult job because the captain or the person, head of the, your section, would be transferred all the time, and you were adjusting to new bosses all the time. So it wasn't an easy place to work with, because most of the people that were assigned there weren't stationary.

AI: Lots of turnover.

MN: Uh-huh. So I worked there for four years until he finished school.

AI: And then what did you decide to do after that?

MN: Then we came up to Seattle and he started his practice in Seattle.

AI: So let's see... that would have been '49...

MN: '52.

AI: '52.

MN: Interesting, we were looking for a place to open a shop and -- not a shop, but a dental office, and this fellow was taking us around, and he took us to Ballard, and he says, "I don't think that's such a good fit for a Japanese dentist to be among the Swedes and the Norwegians." [Laughs] We never stayed in Ballard but we went further to Eighty-fifth and Greenwood. And at that time, it was outside the city limits, too.

AI: And so that's where Tom set up his practice?

MN: Uh-huh, and stayed there for thirty-three years.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.