<Begin Segment 25>

TI: So right now we've been talking about being at the University of Washington. During this time, you met your future wife, Shizuko. Can you tell me when you first saw her, or when you first met her?

HH: Well, she was, the one that I kind of knew before that, along with her, but she was friends with Dr. Inouye's family, because they were all going to school together. But I met, like, Shig or Mas Watanabe's family also, because they lived close to my wife's, close to the church, Japanese Baptist Church. So anyway, there were so many of those, especially like Reverend Andrews' daughter, they were all going to the University of Washington at the time. So that's how I met my wife.

TI: So you had this circle of friends that you sort of knew, and your future wife also was part of this group.

HH: Yes.

TI: But then explain the first time you really saw her, or you remember seeing her.

HH: Well, I... let's see. I got to know her because another friend of mine, who was living close to the church, he was... the name will come to me, but I can't think of his name right away. He was living with his uncle on Yesler and Broadway. He had shoe repair. Anyway, he wanted to sing proper songs, and my wife was his accompanist on the piano. Anyway, he is the one that asked me, can I play for him, jazz music, although I played by ear. And my wife always comments to me that I don't know regular chords and such, but I used to do that, and harmonica, I used to, Buddhist Church had a harmonica band organized, and I used to play piano for them. Anyway, he wanted me to play for him on a Buddhist conference that they had here, in Tacoma, and also Portland. And this one he wanted me to play for him, 'cause he wanted to go to Portland. My wife, naturally, he said she won't go. So he wanted to know if I could play for him. So I said, "Okay," so that's what I did. And that's, I think, when I formally met her, more or less. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, so it was through your friend, who was a singer, so before, he had your wife as sort of the one who accompanied the music, but because he wanted to do this Portland competition, he didn't think that your, that Shizuko would go to Portland with him.

HH: Uh-huh. She's a Baptist.

TI: Okay, she's a Baptist, and going to a Buddhist convention.

HH: Yeah. [Laughs]

TI: And so he asked you and then you played, and then it was through that connection that you first met, met her. So, I mean -- or were formally introduced. So what was it about her that attracted you to her?

HH: Well, it's really... well, what would you say? After I got to know her, I met the family, and the family was a very Christian family. And I wasn't used to a Christian family, really, because I was not a Buddhist in a sense, but I was attending Buddhist Church, Tacoma Buddhist Church because they had a baseball team and a basketball team and everything else. So, and most of my friends were going to Buddhist Church. But it's the family that really impressed me, 'cause they were so, a very loving family and such, and then they were also involved with Reverend Andrews, the minister. And then she was friends with Andrews' family, Melverna, the oldest one, and Reverend Andrews. So anyway, that's how I met her, really, in that kind of...

TI: So you were really impressed with her family and her upbringing, her values.

HH: Yes.

TI: Anything in particular about her that really stood out for you?

HH: Well, I know she was, she was a pianist for the Japanese-language congregation at the Japanese Baptist Church. I think she said she started playing for them even at sixteen years old or whatever, and then she was taking music at the University of Washington. So it kind of... I don't know. It might have been just music...

TI: So after the two of you were sort of introduced and got to know each other, so did you then start asking her out on dates and things?

HH: Yes.

TI: And that's how, and then she became your girlfriend.

HH: And then the other thing is she did play, they had a Nisei, they called it the Nisei Melodians, a band that played in the community, dances and such, she was a pianist. So she also played jazz. [Laughs]

TI: And so you liked that? You liked that she could play jazz?

HH: Well, 'cause I thought that was a good pianist, jazz music.

TI: And she always reminded you that she was a better piano player than you were, too, right?

HH: Oh, yes.

TI: [Laughs] Okay.

HH: Maybe I thought maybe I could learn from her. [Laughs]

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.