<Begin Segment 18>

TI: When you think of Bako, he was the oldest son. And when you talk about he was good-looking, smart, a good student, showed leadership capabilities, I'm guessing that it was a huge loss to the family. I mean, can you talk about what, what it meant to, say, like his younger brother, Chuck, and people like that? What did the loss of Bako mean to each of you?

BH: Well, I think there was favoritism in my family. The primogeniture structure, you know, is the Japanese culture, and I felt like there was a lot of future built into Bako rather than Chuck, because Bako had the leadership potential, and he was bright, he did well in school. So I think my parents probably weighed a lot on him. And in little ways, he was treated a little bit different, you know, something good, he would maybe have the first choice. And good food, it would be made for Bako, something he liked. But my, my mother, I think, showed it more than my father. I guess mothers have a tendency to do that, too, though.

TI: And how did your mother show it? I mean, what, you mentioned crying when Bako's buddies would come back and talk with her, but was there anything else that you noticed that changed with him?

KH: Oh, let me see. He did get into trouble sometime, and I think the punishment wasn't as severe, maybe.

TI: No, I meant after he died. Did you see a change in either of your parents in terms of just...

KH: Well, the difference was given to Chuck. I think Chuck was the boy of the family, and he, he was treated more than I think your mother, who was home. She worked, your mother really worked, worked for the Bishop, and she worked hard to clean the apartments. And Bako, he had to help, too, though, because my mother did all the plumbing work when there was a stoppage or something, and Bako would be the one who had to go up and work with her to... somebody had dropped like a jar of cleansing cream into the toilet, and plugged up the toilet, and Bako had to help her get that out. I don't know how they did it, but I remember he had studies to do, but he wasn't studying.

BH: Can you tell me about Bako's interaction with Chuck? That'd be older brother, little brother?

KH: Gee, I don't remember too much of that. There was an age difference between Chuck and Bako.

BH: Were they, were they close, though?

KH: I think Chuck was closer to May, because they were closer in age, and they went to school and did things together. We, Ish, May and Bako and myself, we were closer in a way, because we went to Japanese school after high, during high school, and we would have to walk home from Fourteenth Avenue to Terry Avenue and Pine. And that's, that's when we used to talk and walk home, until we got rides from the Imamuras. They lived on Broadway, way down past our high school, and we would get rides from them.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.