<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So here's another one that happened in that early... that your father was involved in a court case that actually went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they challenged the Secretary of State in terms of the ability to incorporate.

FK: Uh-huh.

TI: Do you know much about that?

FK: We have it in a textbook at home, it was Jordan vs. Tashiro, that's all I remember. And I didn't even know about it until after Bruce and I were married. He was, right after we got married, he decided he wanted to go to law school. And so in one of his textbooks, he came about this thing, this case, and he says, "Hey, your father's name's in here." I said, "Really? For what reason?" And found out this major case. And that's the first time we heard about it, we didn't know. Because up until then, like where I was born, on Turner Street, was so-called Japanese hospital, but that's because the California, well, the whole USA wouldn't allow him to open up a hospital as Japanese. And anyhow, if you want that textbook, I think it's at home someplace.

TI: But it was a, a pretty, it was a major ruling, where he won.

FK: Yes.

TI: And that allowed some Japanese to come together and incorporate, or to form a corporation.

FK: Yes.

TI: And then the corporation could do things like own land. That was a, that was a big victory for the community.

FK: It was, it was. And we didn't appreciate that until after he was long gone.

TI: And I think they used that to help establish the new Japanese hospital. Do you know much about that, the new Japanese hospital?

FK: Well, it was built and opened the year after I was born, 1929. And so I think my younger brother was born there. But that was owned by Japanese stockholders.

TI: The new Japanese hospital?

FK: Yeah.

TI: Do you remember the doctors that helped establish that hospital? You mentioned...

FK: Kuroiwa.

TI: Yeah, Kuroiwa, and there was a Dr. Nakaya...

FK: Oh, yeah.

TI: Ozasa and Takahashi?

FK: Right. The names are all familiar, but I don't know what their... they all put up money for this and bought shares in it, and that's all I know. But because of that, when I had my children at the hospital, I got an employees' discount. That I remember. Stockholders' discount.

TI: That's good.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.