<Begin Segment 12>

TI: And in general, how was your father, what was his position in the community? Like what, like the Japanese Association, was he part of that? Do you recall his...

KK: Well, business-wise, he had to be in the business association. I sort of believe that he was one of the bigwigs in that, in that part of the story. He would never admit it, but we just took it for granted. Because of the way other people treated him, you know, they oohed and awed, so we thought, well maybe he has some standing in the community. [Laughs]

TI: Now, you're going to go to Japan, I'm curious, how good was your Japanese at this time? Because you didn't go to Japanese school.

KK: No, I didn't go to Japanese school. The only Japanese I knew was baby talk to my parents. I don't recall too much of the Japanese school that we did attend.

TI: So did they give you any Japanese language training before this trip?

KK: Uh-uh. So the other people had gone to Japanese school, so they had, they had the advantage. But I was the oldest one in that group that went, and so I just, I didn't like it that they asked me to make speeches and all that kind of stuff.

TI: So describe the group for me. How many went, and, kind of, who were they, the ages? Tell me about that.

KK: Well, now let me think. I think there some, some kids were still in high school, but no younger than that. The leader, the Reverend and Mrs. Unoura, K. Unora, I think he was a pastor in the Christian church, I'm not sure, but something on that order. He had his two kids, and they were junior high school or something. But the parents kind of kept them on a leash so it was all right.

TI: And how many others, other, just girls that went with you?

KK: On the boat that we got on was... I think there were only three or four of us girls. There were more boys than girls. And then there were several, several girls joined us in Japan. Either the parents had sent them with somebody else, or they had traveled with them to Japan. But they joined us in Japan.

[Interruption]

TI: So where we were was, we were talking about the group that went to Japan. And I was just trying to get a sense of how large the group was at this point.

KK: Oh, yeah. I guess there were somewhere around twenty-five or thirty in the group. Maybe a few more than that.

TI: Now, on your, on the voyage to Japan, I think there was a, you stopped in Hawaii?

KK: Uh-huh.

TI: And so I recall hearing that there was a wedding there that you attended?

KK: Yeah.

TI: So can you tell me about that?

KK: Oh, my sister Shizue had met this fellow at UC Berkeley. And apparently he, he was a med student then, he went off to New York, and it just so happened that he was gonna be finished in New York in June of 1936. And so he went, no, he graduated earlier than June because he went back to Hawaii and started, started a practice on the Big Island, Hilo. So that when he met, Shiz left L.A. the same day, but she was on the Lurline, and that took five days to go from San Francisco to L.A. And the boat we got on took ten days to go.

TI: Oh, so from, I mean, San Francisco to Honolulu took five days, and then, but you went from...

KK: From L.A. We got on our boat at L.A. and went to San Francisco overnight.

TI: And then to Honolulu.

KK: And then to Honolulu.

TI: And that took ten days.

KK: That took ten days. So we got there the same day, in Honolulu. And that day they got married, so I was the bridesmaid, the only one from the family that was there. So anyway...

TI: Can you describe the wedding ceremony? Where did they get married?

KK: They got... Tom -- that's her husband -- Tom knew the Higuchi family in Hilo, and Tom is from... I can't remember what that's called. Anyway, it's not in Hilo, but they call that... anyway, it's a cane field town, from Hilo it's about forty miles or so. But anyway, he had established a practice in Hilo. I guess he finished earlier, much earlier, because he did have a few patients by the time she went. And he's a pediatrician, and nobody ever heard of a pediatrician. But he was a, he was the first pediatrician to come to Hawaii. So he established the practice there, and people were kind of skeptical. But then when the kid got sick, they'd bring him over, and then Mama would be sick, so she'd get some medicine and she survived. So he was sort of a family doctor to the whole, people around there. But that was okay.

TI: And so when Tom married Shizue, where did they get married?

KK: Married in Honolulu, and the -- oh, I was trying to tell you that Tom knew the Higuchi family in Hilo before they had gone to school. So when they went back, Tom was a... when they went back, Tom became, now, a doctor, and Hiro had gone to USC and then gone on to, what do you call that, minister's school. Anyway, whatever you call that. When he came out, he was, he was a reverend. So he performed the ceremony in Honolulu at his, at Hiro's friend's house. Don't know what the, where it was, but it was in a nice green valley, so it was nice.

TI: Okay, so Hiro was a friend from USC, and this was Hiro Higuchi?

KK: Hiro Higuchi.

TI: Okay, and he performed the ceremony.

KK: Yeah.

TI: And they were married in Honolulu.

KK: Well, I should say that Hiro later became the chaplain of the 442nd.

TI: Okay, I recognize the name. Okay, that's interesting.

KK: So he was well-liked, everybody liked him. Anyway, they had the ceremony at twelve o'clock or something like that, and our boat had gotten in there at nine o'clock in the morning or something. And they rushed us off of the boat and got into our clothes and went to the ceremony. [Laughs] And along about three o'clock, our boat tooted the horn, we were supposed to get back on board, so we had to leave.

TI: Oh, what a story. So you were just able to get there just in time, do the ceremony, and then you had to leave.

KK: Uh-huh.

TI: But it was nice that you were able to be there, to represent the family.

KK: Well, I guess they were sort of planned that way when we found out that my boat was going to go. So they planned it.

TI: So they timed it just for you, that you could be there?

KK: Uh-huh.

TI: Now, did anybody else on the boat join you, or was it just you that went?

KK: On the boat, it was that group that...

TI: No, but that went to the, the wedding ceremony.

KK: The wedding? No, I was the only one.

TI: So they were, all had to wait for you to come back.

KK: Uh-huh.

TI: Okay, that's a good story.

KK: Some of 'em, I can't remember who, but somebody attended the wedding unbeknownst to us. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, from the group?

KK: Uh-huh. I didn't know anything about it until afterwards.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.