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TI: Okay. There was another, in your book, there was another person that was mentioned, a Mr. Yamada.

WY: I don't know, I probably changed the name. What was he...

TI: He was an Issei bachelor that had his own place. You mentioned at one time you might have even stayed with him because he had like American breakfasts versus the miso soup? Does that ring any bells?

WY: Well, let's see now. There was a guy named Obata-san. I think it was Kobata, but we used to call him Obata-san, and he was a bachelor. Very handsome. Of course, I didn't know anything about it, but he remained a bachelor all his life. And I think he got shot in of those concentration camps. He wandered too close to the fence, and then the guard tower shot him. But he was very handsome, and he used to have grapefruit for breakfast. We had gohan and miso shiru and tsukemono, you know, things like that. I do remember that. He could have been gay, but he didn't look gay. Who knew? [Laughs]

TI: But it seemed like you were attracted to him because he gave you gifts.

WY: Yes, he gave Christmas gifts. It's always the same, a little mirror and a hairbrush and a comb, but he waa the only one that gave us Christmas gifts. And he used to eat grapefruit in the morning and we had miso shiru and tsukemono and gohan.

TI: And that was interesting, you mentioned possibly being gay. But I'm just curious, in general, were there, especially amongst the many Issei bachelors, were ever people identified as being gay? Did you ever...

WY: Never. I don't even think they knew what it was, my parents. But my mother used to say that there are actors in Japan that take, of course, they take the part of the female. And, you know, of course, female actresses were not prevalent in those days. It was considered kind of a shoddy profession, you know. And so they didn't think anything of it. But I remember she told me once that, "This particular actor is very well-known for playing female parts. They say he is so wrapped up in his female parts that he even does knitting and sewing to keep himself in touch with the female (roles)," that's what she told me. I don't think she was even aware of, you know.

TI: So that was never really discussed or known really in terms of...

WY: Just "wrapped up in his work." [Laughs]

TI: In your writings, you do a really nice job of capturing sort of that Issei male population, those workers. I mean, were there... what kind of experience did you have with the Isseis, the Issei men?

WY: Well, see, the workers were seasonal workers, they followed the crops up and down California. I think I said that in one of my stories. And they were single men, and they were, a lot of them were drinkers. Very few were young and handsome, but there was one, (Suzuki-san), that I thought, "Oh, he's so good-looking." But he never seemed to be interested in women, he had a home, house, he was like my father. He didn't own land because they were not permitted to own land, but he was working for himself. My mother would make curtains for his windows and things like that.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.