<Begin Segment 17>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: So let's, you talked about, sort of, nursing school, let's talk about your decision to join the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps.

SA: Well, that's because I knew I could never be a housekeeper. I mean, I'm just not good at cleaning and doing those things. [Laughs] But I wanted to go in art, like I said, but I knew that was an impossibility. I knew one thing, I had to develop a skill of some sort that was practical. And though I wasn't crazy about nursing (but) because Irene wanted to be a nurse, I just went along with it. And it was actually the best thing because I got a job the minute I got out. I pulled in, in the morning (to Seattle and), by afternoon I walked up there to (the) Marine (Hospital), and I had a job to report to the next day. And I thought that was fantastic. I didn't have to look for a job (long), we were short on nurses. So that was the right thing at the right time, for that I'm very grateful.

TI: And so how was your mother's reaction?

SA: Oh, she didn't like it, as I said before, because that's "low-class" work. Evidently, you know, I was looking into this after I spoke to you, because there (were) midwives, but I think they're more honored because Japanese men don't like men doctors touching the women anyway, so this way I guess it's good. Never thought about it, but that's what I heard later. For that era, they trusted the women to be with women. So I think they were honored more, and they made quite a good living. And what they did was because they're not licensed as such to do it in the hospitals, they did it at home, then they were in contact with a Caucasian doctor and they can bring the child after the delivery and get a birth certificate. And that's why I was gonna pull out mine to see who the midwife was.

TI: That's okay.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.