<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So in this town, how many Japanese were there?

PY: Kahuku?

TI: Yeah, Kahuku.

PY: I don't know. I don't know. But Kahuku was not that big town, but they had a high school. They had a high school and the middle school was combined, I think. So I don't know exactly how big, but...

TI: Because you were quite young, you were...

PY: Yeah, I remember I went to the kindergarten or something, at Kahuku.

TI: Do you have any memories of Kahuku growing up?

PY: No.

TI: 'Cause you were quite young before...

PY: Yeah. Only thing I remember is I know we were, we came to Honolulu quite often, my father and my mother drive to Honolulu and go to the market or something, go to the shopping. And then when I came back from Japan in 1951, when I passed the Chinese market in downtown, I remembered the smell, the Chinese market smell. I said, "Hey, this is the smell that, I don't know, so many years ago, I went through." And I felt so funny, I don't know why I remember only the smell.

TI: And was it a, when you think of the smell, was it like a fond smell, or it just brought back memories? What kind of things did you think when you had that smell?

PY: Well, it was Chinese markets, now. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. How about your home in Kahuku? Do you remember what the house was like?

PY: Well, yeah. And I told Ralph to take me to the Kahuku to see the Kahuku area. And I was so surprised that the house was so small. I thought the house was a little bigger than that, I remember the house. But I guess I was a small boy, so the house, at that time, house was, when I played in the house, it was kind of big, to me. But after the war, when I went back, I was surprised that the house was so small. But the house was still there, though.

TI: And like how many rooms did the house have?

PY: Oh, about four or five rooms, I guess.

TI: And so with five boys, did you share a room, or where did the boys sleep?

PY: I guess, I guess we shared the room, I guess, yeah. But Ralph and Donald was in town because at that time, we didn't have no high school in Kahuku. So Ralph and Donald went to McKinley High School in Honolulu. So they were at the Hongwanji dormitory, I guess.

TI: Okay. So when you were about six years old, your parents decided to go back to Japan.

PY: Yes.

TI: Why did they decide to go back to Japan?

PY: Well, my father got stroke, and he felt that he cannot do the job. So we went, we went back to Japan, and we stayed in Hiroshima city about one year, and after that, we went back to Atatashima.

TI: Okay. And before we do that, I realize I didn't ask this question. Let's talk about your siblings. Can you tell me the names of your brothers, starting with Ralph and just go down the list of brothers that you had?

PY: Well, we had another, another brother. The oldest brother was Shizumayo, but he died, I don't know how old when he passed away, but we had another brother, yeah.

TI: Okay. And then after him came...

PY: Ralph.

TI: And then after Ralph?

PY: Donald, Kazuyuki.

TI: Okay, and then after Donald came...

PY: Toru.

TI: Toru, and then after Toru?

PY: Goro.

TI: And then after Goro?

PY: Is Paul, Shodo.

TI: Okay. So there were actually six brothers but the first one died.

PY: And then I think, I think we had one sister. I don't know in between where, I don't know, but she died really early, too.

TI: I see. Okay, so with the family, there was your mother, father, and then five boys, and then two, a brother and a sister died.

PY: Yeah, yeah.

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