<Begin Segment 23>

TI: And then so after you go there, I guess I'm looking at our time, and so I think we only have about fifteen more minutes. So I'm going to jump around a little bit. And I guess one question is, let's go to your, your marriage. How did you meet your husband?

FK: I don't know. I don't remember any one time.

TI: About what age, or how old were you when you first started dating Bruce?

FK: Oh, gosh, it seems like forever. [Laughs]

TI: So were you attending the City College when you first started dating Bruce?

FK: No.

TI: So this was after City College.

FK: Uh-huh. That's too long ago.

TI: Well, what kind of work were you doing after City College?

FK: I don't recall. Oh, I used to help in my father's office, typing and filing, the usual busy work. Of course, you had to answer the phone, so knowing Nihongo was a plus.

TI: I'm curious, after you got married to Bruce, you eventually moved back to Gardena. And I'm curious to ask you, so what changes had happened to Gardena while you were gone all these years?

FK: Well, I did eventually meet up with some of my grammar school friends. And one time, we had a, sort of a reunion. I was surprised that my hakujin friends said, "We didn't know what happened to you. All of a sudden, there were no Japanese in school." No one told them anything. And I thought, "You mean the teachers didn't tell 'em what happened to us?" It was like, "Who cares?" So that kind of hurt me. And then another girlfriend told me, "Well, Frances, after all you Japanese left, my GPA went up." I said, "You're kidding. Well, that's a plus."

TI: Because the curve kind of changed so then it was easier for her to get better grades?

FK: Yeah, "It was a plus for us," you know. [Laughs] I'll never hear that again.

TI: Any other changes that you noticed? How about just the people in terms of, you saw some of your old grammar school friends. Had the population changed very much while you were gone? Did it grow, did it, was it bigger than before?

FK: I don't know. I haven't been that observant. I guess I haven't been aware enough to take note.

TI: Okay. I'm going to just jump around a little bit. You, in terms of your family after you married, you had three children?

FK: Uh-huh. And first, why don't you tell me their names, of your three children.

TI: The firstborn was Jonathan Taro. I named him Taro after Bruce's father. And then my second child, my daughter, is Miki, M-I-K-I, Angela. Miki is my aunt's name in Nagasaki. And then my youngest one is Troy. And since my mother never had a son who lived long enough, Troy's Japanese name is Tashiro. So my mother was thrilled, she said, "Oh, sonna koto dekiru?" "Can you do that kind of thing?" I said, "Sure, I can name him anything I want." So he's the only Tashiro left. But then he went and had five girls. [Laughs]

TI: Now, it looks like you consciously gave each of your children either a first or a middle name that was Japanese.

FK: Yes.

TI: Why did you do that?

FK: Because they're more Japanese than anything else. It's something to be proud of, I think. And luckily, my grandchildren will have Japanese names. Oh, except my one and only grandson. Most of my grandchildren are girls, five, six, seven of them, but my one grandson, he doesn't have a Japanese name.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.