<Begin Segment 25>

TI: So in '57, you are now reassigned back to Tokyo?

MH: Yes.

TI: And so talk about that. How had Tokyo changed in those two, three years?

MH: Well, it, of course, by that time, the Ginza was completely lit up with neon lights, and it was, you know, it was completely, it had advanced so much as far as recovering and starting anew with brand new buildings, and quite a changed atmosphere there. But I was still, felt at home and very happy there, yes.

LH: You lived in a private home.

MH: Yes, I had a private home instead of being billeted somewhere, which was another great comfort.

TI: Well, so, so I'm going to jump to -- because in 1958, you met a man.

MH: I did indeed.

TI: In August of 1958, so talk about that.

MH: Well, it's rather interesting that both of us had heard about each other before we met. I had heard about him in Washington and he had heard about me in Tokyo. Although by the time I met him, he had been transferred to South Korea.

TI: Well, you have to tell me, what had you heard about this man?

MH: I had heard that he had nineteen concubines, I think, which meant he was going around socially with a great number of attractive young women, some of them movie starlets that I knew of. And that he was a fabulous host, he had a Japanese cook who had been in Manchuria and cooked Chinese delicacies. All the way around, he was obviously an interesting person to meet.

TI: And so I'm curious, when you hear that, it sounds like, if someone told me that, it sounds like a playboy.

MH: Yes.

TI: Was that something that intrigued you or what, you strike me as someone that, perhaps, would not be interested in a playboy type.

MH: I just had heard about him. I hadn't thought of him as somebody that I would be dating or anything like that, just that he was this colorful character, which he is. [Laughs] And, but also, I might say that in China, I never dated a Chinese. In Japan, this, the second time, I did have one date with a Korean, but I had never dated Asian people at all. Not avoiding it, but just it had never come about that I did. So this would, so there was no question in my mind about that, but I didn't even think I'd meet him or know him or date him, so it wasn't a question in my mind at all.

TI: So tell me, so you finally meet this person that you had heard about. Describe that first meeting.

MH: I was going to a cocktail party in Tokyo, mainly because they were going to serve shish kabob. Because I had a place down, along with a group of people, I had a, renting a cottage down in -- not a cottage, house down Oiso on the beach. And so I, would I go to the beach this weekend or would I go and have shish kabob? So I decided I would go and have shish kabob. And I walked in the door, and there, seated on this couch with women all around him was this man. I had met him very, very briefly sometime before. This was, this was August, I'd met him briefly in March, I think. And so I remembered his name, which I never do. I don't remember people's names, I'm very bad about that. But I said, "Hi Luke, I didn't know you were here, over here." And he sort of shook off all these ladies and came over to me. And we spent that, rest of the evening together, went from the cocktail party to a nightclub. I never did get my shish kabob.

TI: And so what was it about that, that meeting that interested you about Lucius?

MH: Everything. [Laughs]

TI: Is it the conversation, was it his personality?

MH: No, just immediate, immediate attraction. It was just, just like that. And, of course, he had so many interesting things to tell and say, so much more about, I learned so much more about Japanese cuisine, for instance, because of him. He had the list of all the best restaurants in Tokyo, and took me to a number of them, and knew so much about Japan. All the way around, it was just... but that wasn't it, it was just a tremendous attraction to each other.

TI: Well, you had dated other men.

MH: Oh, yes.

TI: Was this, did this feel different?

MH: Oh yes, oh yes. From the very beginning.

TI: Because I was looking at some of your notes, and so you met Lucius at that cocktail party, the end of August, 1958, in just... August, September, October, within three months, you are engaged.

MH: Well, that was very brief this time in August, because I had promised friends to go down to, actually, to Kobe. I was going to visit friends in Kobe, so Lucius and I, I think, had three or four dates, I'm not quite sure, and then he put me on the train for Kobe. So then, and he went back to Seoul where he was stationed. And so then he started writing letters to me, and I got tons of correspondence from him. [Laughs] And then he came back in November because he was going to be, he came through Tokyo on his way, actually, to Washington because he was going to have temporary duty there. And we started going out, and then he proposed to me then. And then he left for Washington, D.C. But on his way, he stopped in Seattle and met my brother.

TI: Before we go there, so when he proposed to you, was that... what was your reaction? Was that something that you were surprised, or you thought that this might, might happen? Tell me about that.

MH: I certainly hoped it would happen, and I said an immediate, "Yes."

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.