<Begin Segment 32>

TI: And how was it for you? How had Japan changed in those years that you were away?

MH: Of course, Tokyo was, was even worse as far as the traffic and the noise, you know, everything, from what I remembered. And then Kobe, of course, was entirely different. A quiet town, and an attractive, very attractive town and one where I could move around on the buses and everything like that, and take a train out to, up to Osaka and so forth.

LH: You'd go to Kyoto.

MH: And I went to Kyoto, too.

TI: And it was probably a lot different because the earlier tours of duty, you were more focused on work, more around the military. Here, you're probably a little more in touch with Japanese families, people, women.

MH: Yes, yes.

TI: And so tell me about that. How much interaction did you have with, say, other Japanese women at this point?

MH: Well, the wife of the consul general was the head of a group which was called the Japanese American Women of the Kansai, JAWK. And I'm not a joiner; I didn't join any clubs or anything like that. But the wife of the consul general persuaded me that I should at least come and see this group. And, as a matter of fact, I did become the secretary of the group, and these were all very high-class Japanese ladies. I mean, one was even married to a relative of the emperor. And they were, the others, another one was, the husband was head of the sake company. It was quite a group. And I became very good friends with them. This was the, the Japanese ladies that I got to know because of my joining this group, and made quite the difference in my life.

TI: And in terms of communication, would it be with Japanese or English?

MH: It was English. Yes, it was all in English. They had all learned English, yes.

TI: And how did, when you look at their lives compared to your life, what were some of the differences?

MH: Well, that's difficult to go into. You know, I didn't expect it to be the same as my life. I knew something of what the Japanese home life was, and I tried to appreciate it. I mean, I did appreciate it, the difference with mine, yes. We, and of course, this was also international there. There were, we had other acquaintances there that were of different nationalities. It was quite a diplomatic representation in Kobe, as well as a great deal, number of, great number of businessmen with their wives and families there. So it was a very international community.

TI: Other memories of Japan or Kobe during this time period? Because you were there for about how many years?

MH: We were there for how many years, Lucius?

LH: Six.

MH: Six years.

TI: So quite a long time. So any other highlights?

MH: Oh, we got to travel around. I got to Nara and, of course, Kyoto, but Nara was such a beautiful experience, I've never forgotten that. That's so lovely there. One of the things that impressed me as we got near where the temples were, that there was a stream flowing there with a little bridge, just a small, very small stream with a bridge over it. And the water was clear, which was pretty incredible. And of course, there at Nara is where there are these herds of deer, that you don't dare leave your purse alone, or the deer will get into them to try to get something to eat. [Laughs] But there was one, I went up there originally with one of my Japanese friends from the, from this JAWK, a very lovely person, Setsuko Shindo, who, she took me up there originally. And we went to this temple, and Lucius, tell me... we went to all these temples, but there was a particular one...

LH: Chuguji.

MH: Chuguji where, is that where...

LH: The Miroku Bosatsu.

MH: Where a statue of the Miroku Bosatsu had recently been installed. And it was a small statue, it's a very small statue. I don't think it's any more than that, about that high, is it?

LH: Five feet, six feet.

MH: Five feet high. And it is just, it is so beautiful, and I just was overwhelmed by it. And so when I went back to Kobe and when Brian was visiting -- because by that time he'd come back to the States -- visiting one time, I said we had to go, we had to go see that. And they felt the same way I did, the power of the presence of that statue was incredible. I know that then later, when Lucius and Brian, and one of Brian's friends -- I mean, this is after we'd been here for a number of years -- they went back to Japan, or they went to Japan. And this friend, they took him to this, young fellow, same age as Brian, and he started praying right away. That's the picture of it, right up there. It's such an overwhelming... and it's not big, you know. But it was one of, a very profound experience.

TI: Good.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.