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MA: And tell me a little bit about your father. What type of person was he, and his personality?

JH: He was the best storyteller you could ever ask for. He used to keep all the children in church enthralled because they loved his stories. He was very active in the Japanese community, he also taught judo. I don't know how much dan he was, but he was a black belt. And took us around everywhere that we needed to go in our 1936 Lizzie is what I call it, it's a Ford. [Laughs] But, yeah, he was very nice to all the kids who came up to him to ask for advice, and he was always available for them. He did shibai. Do you know what shibai is?

MA: What is shibai, can you explain?

JH: Shibais are Japanese plays. And they would, the church would put them on, and all, I think all the actors acted as either sex. So my father would come out in a kimono with a wig, and I... ugh. You know, when you're young, you don't want to see your dad like that. [Laughs] He also played the violin, and my uncle Ray also played it, too.

MA: It sounds like he was, he had a bunch of different interests and was musical.

JH: He did, yeah. He didn't draw at the time, but he was a big man. I hope you edit this: I got his body. [Laughs] But I think, yeah, he was five feet nine inches tall. So he was very, all I know is he was very active, and then he met my mother when he took a cruise from, interisland cruise for the YBA, and he met her on that cruise.

MA: And tell me a little bit about your mother. What was her name and where was she from?

JH: My mother's name was Tamae Takemoto. She was born July 18, 1908.

MA: And was she born in Japan?

JH: No, she was a Nisei.

MA: Was she from Hilo as well?

JH: Uh-huh, she was from Hilo. My grandparents came from Yamaguchi-ken, okay, so my father used to say we were "yama kumas," which means "mountain bear." [Laughs] So I knew my grandmothers more, because my maternal grandfather died before I was born. My paternal grandfather was ill most of the time, so I didn't get to know him that well. But I really loved my two baachans, you know. My paternal grandmother was Obaba, my maternal grandmother was Babasan. She was such a neat woman, my maternal grandmother. My mother was injured when she was young, and she told me the story was that her father was what you call oppa, carrying her in the back. And he slipped, so she fell and injured her right, I think it was her right hip. Well, in those days, there weren't very many medical people to take care of 'em, so she eventually had, I think osteomyelitis in her iliac, you know, the bones in there. So she had a huge hole in her buttock, I remember. Because she was... I wouldn't exactly say crippled, one leg was shorter. But she was, I think, among the first patients that entered the Shriner's Hospital in Honolulu at age fifteen, I think. So they took care of her, but they told her she'll never have any kids. Proved them wrong, didn't she?

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.