<Begin Segment 4>

MA: I wanted to ask you, then, about the school that you attended, the Methodist school. And if you could talk a little bit about that part of your life and how you started attending the school in Hiroshima, and a little bit about the school, their curriculum and philosophy. Yeah, so if you could talk a little bit about that.

NM: My school was started by the second pastor of the church I am serving now. What a wonderful divine providence. Reverend Sunamoto, Teikichi Sunamoto served Harris United Methodist Church in Honolulu. He went back to Japan, and he was called to start school in Hiroshima. And the U.S. Mission Board sent a missionary, woman missionary, from probably Nashville or somewhere, southern part of U.S.A. She was still in her twenties, you know, hundred twenty-some years ago, this young woman missionary went to Hiroshima. And she started a school for girls and for women in a country where women and then girls were not respected. They were like second-class citizen, and then they were like, you know, almost like a slave to men. But this missionary came to my hometown, Hiroshima, to really give her life to educating, to the educating of girls and then women. So again, hundred twenty years ago, so much prejudice against American women. And she didn't have much of any support system. She was all alone. But Reverend Sunamoto and Ms. Gains, they really gave their lives to our school.

And this school is a Christian school, but amazing legacy we have. This school is committed to peace. And you can imagine, during World War II, some Japanese people threw stones to faculty members or missionaries or to students, because they thought that students and people who were part of my school were like spies. And then, of course, many American missionaries couldn't stay, and then they were deported to the U.S.A. But right after the war, some of them came back to work for the restoration of the city of Hiroshima. And again, their commitment to peace is just heartwarming, so inspiring. And they worked to help not only the victims of Hiroshima, but they also helped victims of Korea. Because amazing number of victims by atomic bombing were Korean people. They were forced to come, they were forcibly brought to Hiroshima to work as a part of the war force by Japanese military government. And then because of their ethnic background, our government didn't really pay attention to them. So they could not help but return to their country, Japan -- I mean, country, Korea. But the Korean people there, they don't welcome them because they worked for their enemy country, Japan, during the World War II, right? So they were between rock and hard place. And then these were the people, our Hiroshima Jogakuin teachers and faculty members, and then some students extended their help. So I am very grateful that I learned the virtue of service and then living life with purpose greater than ourselves.

MA: And you see that rooted in this experience you had at this school, this sort of learning about service, social justice.

NM: Oh, yes, social justice is a very important piece of our curriculum.

MA: How did you end up at the school?

NM: [Laughs] You know, this school had a... I hope still has a great reputation that if young girls graduate from this school, they will become eligible to get married to respectable young men. And their mannerism and then their language and then, you know, their aura will be appropriate for a wealthy, respectable young man. So this school is often considered by the people of Hiroshima like a prep school for a successful, happy marriage. That's my mother's wish, to send me to that school. But, you know, I didn't really prepare myself for that wish my mother had, but rather, I got involved in, you know, social service activities and organizing people to do something to help others. So I was very busy with the extracurricular activities.

MA: And how did your father feel about you attending this school?

NM: Oh, my father didn't like it at all. So my father didn't really support me financially or in any sense of the word. He was not there, he was not giving me any blessings because this school was established by U.S. missionary. And then so many Americans, and then also some British missionaries were serving this school, teaching us the Bible, and teaching us literature and then telling us what the world is like. The world is much larger than Hiroshima, or Japan. So they were really the breath of fresh air. And then they really influenced me that there is more to life than serving tea and then, you know, catering to whatever Japanese men tell me. So this school was a very important part of who I am today.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright ©2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.