<Begin Segment 25>

TI: And so while this was going on, you mentioned your mother and father being deported to Japan. I mean, were you in communication with them?

CS: Oh, yeah. I was sending, like, for the black market, my mother was telling me they lived off the black market. But I was sending all kind of gift packages. In Little Tokyo they had a store that made gift package to send to Japan, so I was going there all the time and sending packages.

TI: And what was the word you were getting back from your parents? I mean, how were they doing in Japan?

CS: At first they went back to that brewery, you know, so that wasn't damaged. And then they wanted to go back to Tokyo, so we had a relative there who had a pharmaceutical factory, and he said the fire just came to the door but was spared. So they converted one of the offices into living quarters, so my folks lived there for ten years. And they had all the MIS and... rather, I should say all my mother's Japanese school students, kendo students, were in the MIS and occupational force. So they really took care of my folks.

TI: Oh, so they knew your parents...

CS: Oh, yeah. In fact, one of 'em helped in processing them to get back to the States.

TI: And when did that happen? When did they come back to the States?

CS: Well, after I told you that my father, when we found out was because the authorities associated Budokukai with Kokuryukai, the Black Dragon, and (his kendo friend, a member of the Diet), went to the authorities and told 'em, hey, Budokai is, at that time a martial arts school. It's like the NCAA, you know, it's (a sports) association. So that cleared my folks, so that's why they came back.

TI: So your parents wanted to come back to the States but they were...

CS: Oh, yeah, from the beginning I'd been trying to get 'em back.

TI: Good. And so how long were they in Japan before they were...

CS: I think it was about ten years.

TI: Ten years, wow, that's a long time.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.