<Begin Segment 13>

DG: Let's stay with the years that you were in school, but let's talk a little bit more about the community that your father helped build or whatever. Tell us a little bit about his church and the community that you lived in, and you were talking about teaching dancing and...

MH: At Pomona and Garden Grove people were farmers. First time I see the farmers. And then went to one of the farmers' house for the teaching piano for the children, at the entrance have a chicken house. And then I said, "Hello," and then the chicken, "kwa, kwa" and all run away to own house because if I go there, always their family kill the chicken and cooked the chicken, teriyaki chicken, for me to serve supper.

BF: So the chickens knew? [Laughs]

MH: Yeah. Soon as they hear my voice, "kwa, kwa," all the chickens run away. [Laughs]

DG: So this was close by where you lived or far away?

MH: No. Garden Grove so that's a little bit far away.

DG: And you went by car, your father took you?

MH: Maybe came after me.

BF: So it sounds like you were, your family and your upbringing was a little different 'cause you said this was the first time you'd seen farming families. So you were a little bit more city folk, a little bit more educated, coming from samurai background and things like that. Is that true?

MH: I didn't see much of farmers' work.

DG: As you were growing up.

MH: Uh-huh. So quite a different. And then I didn't know that the, some of the olive. Those things, I never seen them before. So they said that, "This is a good, this is a good, you better eat it, we love it." But I -- [laughs] -- very difficult to eat olive. Something like that happen.

DG: Were you cooking for yourself at that time?

MH: I didn't know how to cook so some of Japanese lady help me to teach me how to do it. Now I think about it and, my goodness, those people really helped me.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.