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TI: So let's talk about the Japanese American community. How, about how large was it during this time, do you remember?

BI: Well, I think at one time there were about... I'm not sure, but say three hundred. And then they built a Japanese clubhouse, and so we had a lot of activities at the community house. Then we had a baseball team, basketball team, we had Japanese school there, they had ikebana courses, I think they even had tea ceremony, but I, I didn't participate in that, but I did take some flower arrangement classes.

TI: So it was, it was a very active Japanese community in Bellevue?

BI: Yes, yes, uh-huh.

TI: For it to be so active, who, who sort of, who was the leadership that made this all sort of happen?

BI: I remember there was a gentleman named Tsushima, and Yamagiwa, Aramaki, those three stand out in my mind.

TI: And these were Issei men?

BI: Isseis, uh-huh. And they were very concerned about the second generation, and I think they were the ones that got us interested in dance, so we had ballroom dancing, we used to get together for dance practice.

TI: And so this, this Japanese club, you have dances, was it just for the, the second generation, the Nisei?

BI: Right.

TI: Or did they ever have other, other races or anything come into...

BI: No, it was mostly just for the Niseis.

TI: So you, you mentioned earlier how when you were in the Queen's Court, you came to Seattle. And so Bellevue is, again, across the lake, and back then, the only way you could sort of come to Seattle was by ferry.

BI: Ferry, right.

TI: So how frequently did you come to Seattle?

BI: Well, I went there quite often, to the dances, and we had friends in Seattle. And my sisters were living in Seattle at one time, so I used to go visit them.

TI: So when you would come to Seattle, just describe how, what it would take to, to go to Seattle, that journey.

BI: Well, of course, we had to get to the ferry dock, and I think someone drove us to the dock. I don't think there was a bus. And the ferry was, it wasn't very long, maybe fifteen minutes, I'm not sure. And then we landed at Yesler Park, and then we took the streetcar up Yesler Way, and I remember going shopping with my mother in Seattle.

TI: Do you remember any of the stores that you would shop at, the type of stores?

BI: No, I can't remember the names, but I used to, going from one store to another. Poor Mom was tired, but she was very patient. And she took, she took a lot of interest in how we appeared, since she was a seamstress in Seattle. She enjoyed sewing, so she made me, many clothes for me, sometimes tearing apart my sisters' coats and things and then making me something out of it. So I always felt very well-dressed.

TI: When you were sort of dragging your mother from store to store, do you recall what kind of things you were looking to buy?

BI: Usually clothes.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.