Densho Digital Archive - Nobuko Miyake-Stoner Interview (denshovh-mnobuko-01-0008)

<Begin Segment 8>

NM: You know, after my graduation, I was appointed to a church in California. Yeah, California. And I served Japanese-speaking congregation in California. [Interruption] But that was quite a challenging time. Because they have never had woman minster before, and woman minister who was young enough to become pregnant. That was very difficult. They just didn't know what to do with a pregnant minister.

MA: And this was the congregation you're talking about?

NM: That's right, that's right. Yeah, so, you know, I received blackmail, and then even some members of the church committee said that I should not really show happiness because there are people who cannot become pregnant, and it's not really appropriate for a minister to be pregnant to begin with. "Remember, Jesus has never become pregnant, so it is not appropriate for a minister to become pregnant. Remember Jesus." So, yeah, it was a difficult time. So I needed to wear a tight sash around my abdomen not to show my change, physiological change. So morning sickness was hard, but I needed to be strong. Yeah, "strong" in their terms. And sometimes I was kind of forced to carry bucketful of water from the first floor to the second floor, but the child within me was so strong, and she did cling to me, and I never had miscarriage. My husband came from Three Mile Island area. You may remember that there was a nuclear power plant accident, and then there was a leak.

MA: In the early '80s, I think.

NM: That's right, that's right. So... and then I am a second generation of hibakusha from Hiroshima, so I was really scared that there might be a possibility of genetic abnormality. So I prayed every day, every day that the child I have is a healthy, spirit-filled life. So when the baby came, we named our child after this spirit-filled person, her name was Akiko Yosano. So our first child is named Akiko. And then Akiko Yosano was one of the first female pacifists at the turn of twentieth century.

MA: And your daughter is continuing that legacy.

NM: That's right, yes. And then Akiko is now at the seminary called Pacific School of Religion preparing to become a minister. Yes, so I am very, very grateful.