<Begin Segment 7>

MA: Let's talk a little bit about your time in Japan. So how old were you when you went over there?

SO: How old was I? Let's see... Fourteen, I think I was about thirteen-and-a-half.

MA: Thirteen? Okay.

SO: Thirteen-and-a-half or something. I wasn't quite fourteen when I went back.

MA: And why did you, why did you go over there?

SO: Well, my folks wanted us to learn a little Japanese language, and they thought that was the best way to learn, so they took us all back, all four of us.

MA: So all four of your siblings?

SO: (Yes), but my mother took us back.

MA: How did you feel when you first heard that you were going to go over to Japan to maybe live for a couple years?

SO: Oh, actually, I didn't have any feelings at that time. It was kind of exciting in a way, I was excited in a way. 'Cause I'd never been back there, didn't know what it's like. But I never regretted it, I think it was good, a good thing.

MA: And who did you stay with when you went --

SO: My uncle, my mother's brother. Their name was Higuchi.

MA: So your mother then had a number of relatives still in Japan?

SO: Oh yes, they had quite a few. My grandmother was still living there, my uncle and aunt and, oh, there was quite a few relatives, I can't remember 'em all.

MA: I'm curious about the, you took a ship, right?

SO: Uh-huh.

MA: What was that journey like?

SO: Oh, you would ask me that. I got a good laugh from Mas last night. Said, "Don't you remember?" I said, "Remember what?" He said, "You know you were on the ship fourteen days?" "Yeah." "He said, "Lucky you remember that 'cause you were sick for fourteen days. Never got out of the bed," he said. He said, "You didn't get off of the bed" -- not the bed, the cot or whatever I was on -- said, "You were (seasick) for fourteen days, never drank, never ate." And I was dehydrated, and they had to give me water to, you know, so I could walk. When I landed, we reached Vancouver, B.C., that's when I first got up. [Laughs] He remembered all that, I forgot all of it.

MA: So you kind of blocked it out? You didn't, you don't remember?

SO: No, I didn't remember all that at all. I knew I was sick, but I didn't know for how long. He said, "You were sick for the whole fourteen days," he told me. So I guess he ought to know. [Laughs] He took care of me. Seasick, (yes).

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.