<Begin Segment 17>

TI: Okay, so I'm going to move on and get to the war years. And so December 7, 1941, do you remember, can you recall that day?

MY: Oh, yeah.

TI: And why don't you describe that day for me?

MY: Well, my brother, oldest brother, was married in 1938, and he married a Caucasian. Of course, you can imagine what kind of commotion went on then, the oldest son in the family, and he's married a hakujin, and oh, brother. But my brother was determined, he says, "Well, she said she would do whatever it took for her to be a responsible wife," and this and that. And she grew up quite poor, too, so she knows what it was to be poor, that's for sure. And so...

TI: And so when you say "caused a commotion," so were your parents against...

MY: No, my parents, they never outwardly said it, but I'm sure that probably like a lot of parents, that, "Well, gee, he's the oldest and I wish he would marry a Japanese." But I'm sure that my parents thought of that, too, but they never antagonized the thing. She said, "Well, this is America, and I guess this is the way it's gonna be." And I remember him bringing Jimmy Sakamoto over one time to talk to my folks, too. But she was always so good, she used to... I had these three younger brothers, and she had a niece and a nephew that was about the same age. And so I think it was an Oldsmobile two-door, and so she, there must have been eight or nine of us crammed into this car, and I remember particularly at one time going to the, she'd take us to Point Defiance or Woodland Park. So her mother would be along, too, and stopped at a stoplight in Tacoma when we were on our way to Point Defiance. This car right alongside, it was a Caucasian, of course, and they were looking, and back and forth, they were talking and said, "Well, I hope you get your damn eyes full." [Laughs]

TI: Get your eyes what? Full?

MY: Get your eyes full, you know, because they were just looking at us from across the thing. But Tom said, "Well, she said she'll do anything that's expected of her," so it just worked out real good. She was very good.

TI: So were there ever... oh, I guess, problems or difficulties, race problems between whites and Japanese?

MY: Not for us. At least, if there was, the folks never talked about it, I guess. I never got into it, anyway. So they're very lucky that way.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.