<Begin Segment 15>

TI: Okay. When you were, like, in high school, your dad, your family has a store. What kind of jobs or responsibilities did you have to help the family, if any? Or did you just have to worry about school? What kind of things did you have to do?

HH: Well, one of the things that I had, and I kind of... my dad, although there was a Chinese restaurant right next door, he wanted his meals, lunch and dinner, brought down to his store. So on the weekends like Saturday or Sunday, then I would take his lunch. So I had to walk down two, three, about four blocks down and about... about eight blocks I had to walk, carrying a basket.

TI: And so that was kind of your job. So your mom would make the lunch and package it up, and then you would deliver it to your father.

HH: Yes. And that enabled me to at least have some contact with my dad, and so, and then that's the time that he could take a little break, because I could be at the store, and if a customer comes, I could, if he wanted to take a nap, I could... but most of the time, he used to like to work the crossword puzzles. And so I got in the habit and I still do work on my crossword puzzles.

TI: So your father liked to do crossword puzzles in English?

HH: Yes.

TI: So he was pretty proficient at English for him to do crossword puzzles.

HH: Yes. Both my uncle and my dad. My uncle learned it, and I think my dad, too, at Bible school. See, I'm, my uncle was more or less, along with the Reverend Okazaki, who was the first minister, anyway, he, they and my dad was, I mean, my uncle was more or less a deacon of our church, a lay leader.

TI: This is the Seattle Baptist church?

HH: Yes.

TI: So this is your uncle --

HH: Japanese Baptist Church. So my uncle, being able to speak English, he was more or less like a lay leader.

TI: So you're talking about the uncle that was the watchmaker?

HH: Yes.

TI: And this is in Seattle because he moved to Seattle.

HH: Yes.

TI: That's when your dad was in Tacoma?

HH: Yes. Before that, you see, my uncle must have learned his English by having First Baptist Church lay leaders come and help have English lessons, classes, but the provision was that they have to have Bible study along with it. This is a standard-type thing, that Japanese learn English. So I think that's where, and then I think my dad also, while he was in Seattle, I think that's what he did. But my uncle was baptized along with Reverend Okazaki, the founder of our Japanese Baptist Church, but my dad never did become Christian. I'm the only Christian in my family, the rest are all Buddhists.

TI: So in Tacoma, did your dad, your family attend the Buddhist Church?

HH: Well, they were, except my mother, she was more or less not a regular attender, but she would go and help with dinners or lunch or something like that. But they were not, they were all considered members of the Buddhist Church unless they went to, there was another Methodist Church, Japanese Methodist Church, same as in Seattle, same thing. Seattle Buddhist Church had, they did have membership dues or something. I don't know if my dad ever did kind of officially be a member, but he was considered... so all your services and, funeral services and everything else were in the Buddhist Church with the rest of my family.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.