<Begin Segment 19>

MA: What do you see as the future of the Japanese American community?

MT: I think they're going to be just like the kurochans, the black people. They're just going to mix and going to be one -- which is good. Then it'll be, there'll be no more discrimination, but they'll figure something else out, but then... yeah. They have a harder boat to row.

MA: Who has?

MT: The black people.

MA: But you envision the future as sort of, a lot of different races sort of intermarrying?

MT: Intermarrying. My two girls married Caucasians; the boy that's helping me clean out my house now is a Caucasian. But they're good Caucasians; I appreciate 'em both. Real good kids.

MA: When they both first wanted to marry, the Caucasians...

MT: They were worried. [Laughs]

MA: Were you worried, or how did you feel about that?

MT: No, I just watched. And the oldest one, he just went ahead, and I don't know what transpired between the two of 'em but that was the biggest hurdle. He was worried, I'm sure. And the second one, Jim, he's a, he's really cute. [Laughs] He went and actually asked my, Dad for her hand, I guess he was scared to death. [Laughs] He's a good kid. Oh gosh, they're both real good. Jim is a very, mother is very, in church, so very gentle fellow. He's in, he's in Taiwan right now working for Boeing. Stays there a month at a time. Yeah, he says he wishes he'd be over here to help me, ha-ha-ha. [Laughs] But he would. I know he would. Yeah, they're good kids. But it's, we're just going around and gonna come around and it's gonna be one circle of everybody I think, eventually. But what I'm scared about is there's so much evil in this world. It's just, every day somebody's killing somebody or something, and I don't know where that's going to take us. I'd like to read some things about the last days of whatever, how they were all evil and they... but anyway.

MA: How are you able to deal with that, sort of seeing all of this, what's going on today?

MT: It bothers me when I read it, it really does. I think, "What in the world's gonna happen?" And you can't even walk, you read that somebody went, you're minding your own business and walking through the store, and then as soon as you get outside they grab your purse or something. I just can't fathom it, and they don't want to work for anything, they just want to take it. No respect. No, in the schools, you can't slap 'em. Some of those kids need a good whipping, I would give 'em. Yeah, I would. In the old days, they used to just cut your hands off or something. Now, that's, that's extreme, but if you stole, they would do... that's extreme. But some of them don't understand what you mean.

MA: It sounds like what you were talking about earlier about discipline and respect, and those are sort of the values that you have that maybe aren't in a lot of people now.

MT: Uh-huh. I listen to people like the fellow that's with Oprah.

MA: Dr. Phil?

MT: Dr. Phil, and you could see that out of the, you just can't imagine how in the world they can't comprehend that what they're doing is wrong. They just can't seem to think that anybody's, that anybody would have the nerve to say that you're wrong. I just can't believe it. It's scary, isn't it? You just don't know what's gonna happen. Maybe I'm gonna be going at a good time. [Laughs]

MA: So what are your plans for the next few years?

MT: Well, this is going to be the last chapter of my book, I say, at eighty-two, or eighty-three this year, but I'm going to... I used to do dahlias and go to shows and everything, so I'm going to stop all that and then I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to go to some symphonies and some of the other things that I've missed. You know, the period between having children and then the children leaving is a blur. I can't remember. I can't remember, and you ask a lot of these mothers what happened between there, they can't remember. Because it's nothing but work, work, work, and keeping the shoes on and mouths to feed. So I'm gonna... but that's what's wrong, is that we come to this point but we've already made the circle. And like your kids are treating you because you're dependent on them. [Laughs] Circle. So that's sort of hard, but I'm glad that I get to, that I'm in a position that I could go to this Rockwood and have a house.

MA: Is this your new, your new home?

MT: Uh-huh, have my own house. And it's really good, I met another friend today at the other meeting. Yeah, I'm real excited about it. [Laughs]

MA: Is there anything else that you wanted to say, any messages for...

MT: Well, I enjoy thinking about these old days; that's a sign that you're really old. And I relish 'em and I think about 'em and I think, gee, I used to do this. And those grasshoppers, we used to catch a lot of 'em and cup like that and get 'em in there. The grasshoppers, and oh, some of the icky stuff we did. I even skinned a snake. Yeah, I went to the lake to baby-sit for the summer, some kids, but at that time, I caught a snake and I skinned it. [Laughs]

MA: You weren't scared?

MT: No, I was a tomboy. Yeah. But I like -- I haven't got the brains for anything else, I guess, but anyway...

MA: Well, it sounds like you had a great life.

MT: I enjoyed it, yeah.

MA: Great. Well, thank you so much for the interview.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.