Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Jim Akutsu Interview
Narrator: Jim Akutsu
Interviewer: Art Hansen
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: June 9 and 12, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-ajim-01-0005

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AH: And what impact did this have on your mother and father's relationship? Here's your father two different times, things are going well and then the winds comes out of the sails and everything. How did your mom respond to this?

JA: Well, anyway, she came later in, they were married early enough, but she came to United States to make that deadline, 1924, whenever it was. So, she came later but at that time she was already teaching high school math and she had almost enough time in for a pension.

AH: In Japan?

JA: Yes, so they were living separate. She was in Japan and he was here. And...

AH: Well, you mean, let's go back a little bit with your mom's whole situation and take her up to this so I can understand it a little bit better in perspective. Tell me a little bit about where your mom came from and what her family was like.

JA: Okay. All right, my mother's side was samurai family, very distinct samurai family. And my father's side was farmer. And the reason, how they got to know each other is to go to the university, he stayed at their place. They had an extra place to, they had extra house, so he used to stay there and that's how they got to know each other.

AH: So she's from Tokyo?

JA: No, she's from Utsunomiya.

AH: Okay, that's where...

JA: Yeah, my father is from a place called Ujie which is further north, farming area.

AH: And where is the university located?

JA: In Tokyo.

AH: Oh, in Tokyo. But that's where he met her, right, when he was staying at their house to go to the university?

JA: Yes, he was commuting to Tokyo.

AH: Okay, so she doesn't live too far from Tokyo, then?

JA: No.

AH: Okay, but she's from a samurai class?

JA: Yes.

AH: And then when did they get married?

JA: Let's see, they got married sometime early in 1900. And she stayed there because she was teaching, she wanted to teach, keep teaching until she knew what was going on over in U.S. But at the time he was doing very good in whatever shoe business he was involved.

AH: But you were born in 1920?

JA: Yes.

AH: So she must have been here by then?

JA: Yes, she came in around either '18 or '19.

AH: Now, if she's from a samurai background and... there's a class difference between your parents, then.

JA: Samurai is the top. Farmer comes right next.

AH: Right. But there is a class difference even though your father's family was fairly prosperous, because of the rice growing as you've explained it. But later on, this other stuff is happening, and your father's fortunes, the bottom falls out once and then twice. Does your mother feel the first time, shame on them, the next time, shame on you?

JA: That's right, and she did bring up that, "You're too trustworthy. You have to watch it much closer," and that's where she stepped in and any money transaction and all, she would be involved in it. She'd take over that part and he'd be going up there doing his thing.

AH: Now, how general do you think that pattern was among Japanese Americans? You've talked to other people, of your generation, their parents, where the wife actually handled the finances. For example in my family right now, my wife handles the finances, but how general was that in the Japanese American --

JA: Not too much. The men, they had everything to say. They were the boss. But like my mother respected the husband. But yet when things like that happened twice, I mean, she's going to be watching him more closer. She wanted him to be closer to the work instead of trying to get out there to run the business or advertising his business.

AH: What would you say your mother's attitude would be towards the Japanese Americans in J-town, the mainstream Japanese American community? How would she regard them, because we sort of talked about the way your dad felt about it.

JA: Well, at the same time, my mother, being educated, she didn't get down to do the J-town uneducated people, but she would go up there to read letters, write letters, do all of that to accommodate. But she understood why and what the reason they were there for. But beyond that, she didn't... to isolate ourselves.

AH: Was she also from a Christian background?

JA: I don't think so.

AH: Did she, was she a practicing Buddhist when she was here in Seattle?

JA: No, the family was Nichiren. I remember when we went there around 1931, first time I went there. We went to the Mount... wherever Nichiren was, what do you say, studying, yeah, we went up there. And she came back and joined the Nichiren. Up to then she wasn't, she was going to Japanese Baptist Church. That's where we, my father, my mother, they all were involved in Japanese Baptist.

AH: Is there where you were brought up, in the Japanese Baptist Church?

JA: Yes.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.