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TI: So let's talk about Japan. So you go from Honolulu then to Japan. So where did you land in Japan?

KK: Yokohama.

TI: And what were your impressions of Japan when you first saw it?

KK: Just strange, is all I can say. I woke up the first morning, and all I could hear was the clatter of geta. All the students there, rather than wear shoes, wear these geta. And the higher, the longer they last then. The higher the platform. When those things hit the sidewalk, they make a very distinctive sound. So that was the first sound you became aware of when you woke up in the morning. Very strange.

TI: Oh, that's a good one. What other things do you remember, like sounds, smells, anything else, do you recall? Sights?

KK: Well, it was all just kind of strange, I guess. Of course, I had, I hadn't grown up among Japanese, so I didn't, I didn't feel like the chatter was Japanese. It just felt strange.

TI: So what did the group do? So you're there for how long? Several weeks, the group?

KK: Yeah. I don't know exactly how many days we traveled, but we went to several churches and they had parties and things like that. And then, of course, we had to go to all the shrines and temples and whatever. But nobody really explained what those shrines meant or anything, so it just looked a fancy dwelling, or new building. But my not having been brought up in the Buddhist religion, all of that was very strange to me.

TI: While you were in Japan, were you able to meet family?

KK: My family?

TI: Yes.

KK: Yeah, but that was later. We had that tour business, and then after that we had three weeks or something to go visit the families.

[Interruption]

TI: So the question was, were there any other memories during the tour part that sort of stick out in your memory?

KK: I can't remember too much of those things. The buildings, they were beautiful and they were different, and, but they were all new to me as I had no prior knowledge of what each one meant or anything.

TI: What about the reaction of the Japanese to Japanese Americans? When they saw the group and then they would hear, probably, you speaking English to each other, what kind of reactions did you get?

KK: Well, you really felt like a foreigner, for one thing. So they, I think they just thought we were curiosities.

TI: Or were there, was there any reaction when they heard you speak Japanese? Because here you were, a young woman, and they probably expected someone to speak probably more proper Japanese. And so what kind of reaction, did you get a reaction?

KK: Not at the time. But after I stayed there for a while, I heard what they thought.

TI: Well, we're talking about that, so what did they think when they heard later on, when they heard you speak? What kind of comments did you get?

KK: Well, of course, my Japanese was the Meiji-era Japanese. And so that was foreign to some of the younger folks, and they were curious to know what I meant by some, some word or whatever. But, of course, my Japanese was a very curious kind of a mixture of baby talk... because I didn't know the difference between the, what the family did in the home, how they talked or anything. So I had to teach in the school where I landed. [Interruption] They thought I was a curiosity, to tell you the truth.

TI: So let's talk about, so after the tour, you had some time to go visit the family.

KK: Yeah.

TI: So what was that like?

KK: Well, my uncle, who had been to California, came, and he's a doctor. He came to, on his way back from Germany, he stopped in California. So we sort of knew him, but, of course, we hadn't talked too much with him 'cause we didn't have good Japanese. He came and he took me back to Wakayama and introduced me all around to my father's family and to my family -- [coughs] -- my mother's side. And everybody was very nice to me. I must say that the first day that I was there, wind had gotten around that I was coming. So after I arrived, I guess the word spread like wildfire. Somebody came and they opened the shoji from the street, and the little kids pointing at me, and they were laughing and talking among themselves. I guess I was a curiosity to them.

TI: Because you were the American coming to, to visit the village.

KK: Uh-huh. So I know that there were any predecessors to my arriving, but there may have been. Although as I said, my uncle had been in California and the United States. And I found out later that another brother, my mother's brother came to the U.S., too, but he subsequently died.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.