<Begin Segment 12>

MA: And you, so going back a little bit, you moved to New York, you and Bill got married, right?

YK: Yeah.

MA: And he was from New York originally. And so you moved with him to New York after the war, right?

YK: Right.

MA: And then you got jobs waitressing there in Manhattan?

YK: What?

MA: You worked in Manhattan and lived there?

YK: Wait, I just want to mention about my husband Bill, because he was different from any of the Nisei I met. He was brought up in an orphanage. He was the only non-white, he was Asian. Everybody else was white. So he grew up, I think, almost thinking he was white. And, well, he was different in a lot of ways. First of all, I don't think he ever went through racism, 'cause he was brought up in a white world until just before the war, yeah. He went to California, and for the first time, he was treated like what Asians are treated like. He couldn't get a job, he couldn't find a place to live, he was lucky he found a Japanese, I mean, where the Japanese all lived, and got a job among Japanese people. But he didn't know anything -- and so I'm so glad, though, that in California, he volunteered for the 442 and they let him go back to New York. And then we went back to New York, his father happens to be a domestic worker, and he found out that he had an American name. Bill always thought his name was Masayoshi, but all the hakujin people, they just called him Masa in the orphanage. And then when he found out from his father he had an American name, William, or Bill, he said, "I want to use Bill from here on. No more Masa or Masayoshi." And so when he went in the army, he went in as Bill Kochiyama, William. So he was so happy. I don't know why his father never told him. But his father had a lot of sad moments in his life. But it was good that Bill got back to New York to see his father, find out about this. He never knew what his mother even looked like, because he said his father, there were pictures where the mother was holding him on her lap, or he was standing next to his mother. But his father cut out the mother's face so he never knew what his mother even looked like. But it's because the father had some very sad experiences, and because his mother divorced his father, which is very unusual in a Japanese family. You know, that just doesn't happen. And then the Japanese who was his wife marries somebody else, I mean, divorces him. So you could see his father went through a lot.

MA: So Bill was pretty unusual then for a Nisei.

YK: Oh, yes. His whole life was different. I don't know any Japanese who was brought up in an orphanage.

MA: Well, in New York, too.

YK: Yeah, just being from New York. I met a few Japanese from New York, but they were, you know, they had a Japanese family and all. But Bill's life was really different.

MA: Did Bill seem like big city to you when you met him? Like real urban?

YK: Yeah, he wasn't like any... well, most Japanese Americans, that time, the guys were very shy and very straight. And he was a guy, you could tell he had been around, nightclubbing and all that kind of stuff. He was different. But what made him, at least countered some of his running around wild like, that his father was a domestic. And that balanced out something. Otherwise, he would not be that easy to get along with, I don't think. 'Cause he knew he was, I think he... well, first of all, he was very good-looking. [Laughs] And he knew that he didn't even have to try. And so many white women would go after him 'cause he was good-looking. I mean, and he may not know, but he was spoiled in a different kind of way. But he was certainly different. So, well, I'm glad I got to meet someone like him.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.