<Begin Segment 25>

TI: Now, in terms of children, I met your daughter, what are their, you want to tell me about the rest of your family? Can you tell me your other family members, like do you have other sons and daughters and grandchildren?

MA: (My daughter's name is Laura.) My son (Paul), he's in Tacoma, he's an architect, and he was involved in Tacoma redevelopment downtown area, and he's doing fine. My (son-in-law) works for the Washington Trust Bank, and he's a vice-president there now. I have two grandchildren... no, no, what am I saying? Two grandchildren from my son. One is a teacher in Raymond, Washington, and the other is in the air force, and he just got through duty around Turkey and Iraq and Afghanistan. And fortunately, his plane wasn't shot down. He hauled cargo, a cargo plane. And now he's going to be stationed permanently in Hickam Field in Hawaii. My daughter has four sons. [Laughs]

TI: So you have six, six grandsons?

MA: Yeah.

TI: Wow, okay.

MA: But they're, they're all in school yet, and two is in college. And then I got (five) great-granddaughters and (...) great-grandson. [Laughs] And they're very little, real small.

TI: Well, so when you see that, and they're gonna grow up, are there any kind of words that you have or thoughts that you have for them as they get older? Especially your great-grandchildren, when they grow up, what would you tell them about life?

MA: Well, I tell 'em to live the best you can, and there's a lot of good things in Japanese culture that you should remember. You know, like gaman, you know what gaman is? And yeah, and you know, my son's married to a Caucasian, so they're all half-Japanese. [Laughs] Yeah, and the grandchildren, they're, you can't tell, they're all blonds. [Laughs]

TI: Well, good, so that's all the questions I have.

MA: Yeah, but I said...

TI: Do you have anything else you want to say for the, the tape?

MA: No, I don't.

TI: Okay. Well, I just want to thank you so much. I've learned so much by doing this interview. Because you're one of those rare people who can really remember way back before the war, what Spokane was like, so this was really good.

MA: Yeah, that's a long time ago. Well, I'm eighty-nine years old now, borrowed time, hey.

TI: No, it looks good.

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