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TI: Well, so here's something that's kind of interesting from a historical standpoint. Your oldest brother, Tom, was involved with, at that time, a new organization called the JACL. Do you recall his involvement back then with the JACL?

MY: Well, like he and John Arima and Coco Tsujikawa, so there were four or five families that had big families. And the Isseis were pretty well-represented, too. They were in there to help 'em, whatever they needed to do to get 'em going. And so if you see the convention pictures, you find a lot of Isseis there to help them.

TI: When you think back, do you recall your brother ever saying why it was needed, this new organization?

MY: Uh-huh.

TI: And what would he say?

MY: Well, I think he had some headaches to really understand, I think he understood as he grew older what it meant. But I don't know. I don't ever remember my brothers ever saying anything against my dad or my mom for their suggestions or anything. In fact, my dad was so ignorant about athletics, he didn't even know who was playing or what they were playing, but he would go to the games. And he would come home and Mom would say, "Well, how did they do? Did they win?" And he says, "I think so." But that's how much he knew about it, but he was doing it to help promote the activities for the, not JACL, but for the YBA.

TI: Right, but going back to Tom, so he was involved at a time when the JACL became this national organization.

MY: Yeah, he's been in it from the very beginning.

TI: Right, and this concept of, in some ways, creating a network of Japanese American groups throughout the, mostly the West Coast. I was just wondering if he ever thought or talked about why that was a good idea.

MY: Well, you know, it seemed like he was given a lot of responsibilities. He was, he got active in Boy Scouts, and he kept his membership 'til he died, I think, and things like that. But I think most of the brothers were right in there, to whatever the folks thought was good, and keep the organization going. I think Tom was the second national president and committee chairman for the... second national convention, JACL convention was held in Seattle. And so the last few years, I've been, Shea Aoki would call me every once in a while and want to get together about JACL and Japanese community this and that.

TI: Yeah, that was essentially the beginnings of the JACL, so I was curious about it.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.