<Begin Segment 23>

TI: We talked a lot about the Buddhist church, because you essentially grew up with the Betsuin in Seattle. And we talked about some of the challenges before the war and right after the war. We're now 2009, what do you think the challenges are going to be for the Betsuin now and in the future?

SI: I think the main challenge for the Betsuin is to continue. As the world is changing, the membership composition has changed. There's more diversity among the group, so that has to be addressed. Where these young members, the new members, will have to learn the religion, which will influence their lives and have leadership that can intelligently lead the temple so that we don't fall into arrears or have problems financially or any kind of, other kind of problems. Try to keep the ship afloat, even keel, and do the best we can to keep it going evenly, smoothly. That's a challenge.

TI: And how would you compare the challenges today to some of their historic challenges? I mean, is it, do you think it's... in terms of the Buddhist church in Seattle, do you think now the challenges are harder than they were, say, after the war or before the war, or about the same? What's your sense? Because you're one of those few people that's seen the whole thing.

SI: Well, I believe that the current membership definitely is lucky in the fact that the temple is paid up for, and that they have a place that they could meet. The challenge, I think, is to make sure that the new members that come in, the young members that come in, can receive the type of teaching that was given to their forbearers. And that regardless of the situation, the current economic situation, political situation, that we find our answers in our temples, and that we have the ministers and the leaders to be able to continue what has been given to us by our forbearers, the Isseis.

TI: Good. So Sat, I finished all my questions on here. Is there anything else that you wanted to talk about, reflect on at this point?

SI: I thought this interview was very enlightening to me, too, you know, to be able to articulate what's in my mind. It's the kind of thing that, I guess, sometimes you gotta have somebody asking you questions to be able to come up with answers that you haven't even thought about. So in a way, I appreciate you asking me all these questions so that I could try to solidify certain thoughts in my mind, too. There's a lot of things that I would like to discuss, maybe some other time, but I think for this particular interview, well, we've covered most of the bases.

TI: Okay. I'm really interested because you brought some of your papers and things, and drawings at Crystal City, and I actually want to study some of this.

SI: I'm sure that there are things that would be of interest to you, Tom. And I've thought about it before, but I figured, well, you're such a busy man and your time is of the essence to you. Whereas I'm retired now, I have my leisure time. But anyway, I'm glad that we had a chance to get together finally, and I could show you some of the stuff I have and let you decide on whether it's of any value to you at all.

TI: Oh, from what I've seen, it is going to be very valuable. Sat, thank you so much for taking the time for this interview. I really enjoyed this.

SI: Yeah, and I'm glad to have had the opportunity to talk to you and knowing both your parents and all that, it was really nice to be able to get together.

TI: Well, thank you.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.