<Begin Segment 17>

MA: Well, I'm curious to ask you about September 11th.

MT: September?

MA: September 11th, you know, the attack on the World Trade Center?

MT: Oh, that.

MA: And sort of the aftermath of that and how you feel about that? Some people are saying that it's similar to what happened after Pearl Harbor.

MT: No, no. Well, yeah, maybe, yeah, maybe so. Maybe so. My parents, my father told me that they had pushed Japan into a corner, and restricted them all the way around so they were isolated completely. There's nothing to do but to come out fighting. But the United States, well, they got to think about those things. Sort of hard, I don't know. Bad. [Laughs] Poor Mr. Bush, huh? [Laughs]

MA: So you, how many children do you have?

MT: I have six. I had six; two I lost, but the rest are still with me. Three and three.

MA: Do they identify strongly, I guess, as Japanese, do you know? Do they talk with you about that?

MT: No, no. They're American. And it's good, that's where you are. But yeah, no, they -- well... well, yeah, uh-huh. My daughter is working on a project herself and trying to organize women in something to do with, back East they're trying to make it into a... oh, I can't, her husband just got through telling me about that, that she's pushing for helping women do something or other. But anyway, I hope she gets, does what she's aiming to do, it's something good.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.