<Begin Segment 23>

TI: So we just have a few minutes left, and so I wanted to kind of open it up and let you talk about anything that we may have left out, or you'd like to just talk about.

ST: Well, I guess there are things I should have mentioned that I haven't, but I think that my whole life, there's always been somebody to help me. I've never really felt that I was in a corner and had no one to help me. And I think this is kind of unusual because we had no family, it was always just my sister and my father and I. And yet, it seems like when you say it takes a village to raise a child, people, even complete strangers would help you. And I think this is always the way it has been, and people don't realize how much help they are getting from other people. And you have to look at that in your life. But I don't think you realize this until you reach an age where you can look back and realize that some of these things just didn't happen. Somebody was, noticed you and wanted to help.

TI: And so because of that realization, do you find yourself helping others? I mean, do you think about that?

ST: Well, I have to say, I'm not as helpful as I probably should be. But I do try to see things not so much as black and white as very gray and all shades. I think you can't say you're for this or for that. There's always circumstances that make you look at things differently, and you have to put yourself in the other person's position, and you just cannot.

TI: Well, Setsu, thank you so much. We're about, almost two and a half hours into it...

ST: Yeah, and I was looking at this and I said, "Gee, I didn't get to tell about these people." But have you, the other thing is, have you ever heard about the first guy who played, first Nisei who was on the Rose Bowl team for OSC?

TI: For USC?

ST: OSC, Oregon State College.

TI: Oregon State College, no. Oh, wait a minute, maybe --

ST: Chiaki Yoshihara.

TI: No, I don't know.

ST: He, it was '42, so that was right after the war started, he was on the team for the, went to the Rose Bowl for Oregon State. And because of the, they wouldn't allow us to travel anything, he wasn't, the government said he could not go.

TI: I have heard this story, yes.

ST: Oh, okay. Well, he was a family, his family were friends of ours, and we gathered every year for mochitsuki. He was one of the mochitsuki people, 'cause, of course, he was very strong. That was our last mochitsuki before we went to camp, and he wore his Rose Bowl jacket.

TI: 'Cause I think they acknowledged him, they did a ceremony down there I think in the last year or so.

ST: Oh, really?

TI: Yeah, so there was, I saw it on TV.

ST: Yeah, that was good. Oh, let's see, I have to see if I have anything else that I should mention. Well, there are other things, but... oh, yes. When I got out and got my first job, I was in a perfect position where I didn't, I wasn't interviewed, I interviewed all my prospective employees, employers. And I chose Union Carbide because they were a national, very large corporation. And so when I worked for them, went to work for them, I was the confidential secretary, which meant that I was the top secretary in the group. And so I had access to every, all kinds of records. I used to go through every directory that came in and look for an Asian name. You know, I never found one. And the corporate executives who came through Portland, because we were a very distant section of the corporation, they always had to be introduced to me. And my boss would always introduce me and they would -- I knew they were fascinated by the fact that he hired me, and I did flower arranging. They thought I was terrific. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, that's good. So eventually, did they change and hire Asian Americans?

ST: You know, up until I got married, which would have been 1960, I never found a name, unless it was at a small place where, you know... it might have been in a different division where I wouldn't have access to a directory. But the corporate directories in New York, I had a corporate directory, and for the Carbide, which would, you know, you had all the execs, there was never a secretary, never a staffperson there with an Asian name. And actually, because I was Japanese, my first boss was, he had been, he was big in the business, but he came out to retire in Portland and to manage the plant. He joined the Japan Society. He asked me first, "Is this a good Society to join?" And I said, "Well, it's very prestigious." I said, "I think you'll meet a lot of interesting people from Japan, but if that's, you know," I says, "it would be kind of interesting. And it's definitely not just, you know, they don't ask everybody." And so he said, "Okay," so he joined it. And then he became president of the Chamber of Commerce. And when the Emperor's son came -- or was he the new Emperor? No, I think he was still the son -- came over to visit in Portland, he got to be on the welcoming committee. And I always feel, "If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have been on that Committee." [Laughs]

TI: Oh, good. Got a chance to meet the Crown Prince.

ST: Yeah.

TI: Well, again, thank you so much, Setsu, for taking the time.

ST: Oh, yeah, it was fun.

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