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RI: I know my, oh my grandfather in Hawaii is a very similar story. The plantation workers, they're all men because the plantation owners didn't want families here. They wanted men just to, to devote themselves to work, and had no concern for their welfare. So you had these little clusters of young single men, and of course they offered them gambling and prostitutes and all these things. But I think many of these men missed the traditions and customs of Japan and realized that the only way they were going to get this was to have Japan send some priests over, because they were dying, too. They died very young in those days, very rough conditions, and there was no one to perform a funeral or memorial service. They had to do a Christian one, which was very strange for them. So my grandfather used to -- in Hawaii -- go to all the outer islands. He used to, I always saw him riding this white horse. Very stylish man you know, white suit and on a white horse, a mustache. And they would have all these labor strikes there where the workers, of course, were terribly mistreated. And they would have these major strikes. And the only person they could think of calling at the time who had any respect from the workers, was the bishop. So my father [Ed. Note: Narrator meant to say grandfather] was -- became very famous in the city papers and all that for the one who rode in on his white horse, and kinda told them, "Okay, let's work this out. You guys go back to work and we'll get some better conditions," like that. And so again there was a need -- it wouldn't happen today. They wouldn't ask the bishop of BCA to come and mediate a strike, 'cause he would have no influence. But in those days again, the uneducated -- feeling helpless with the authorities and policies -- asking someone who had the confidence and knowledge to do it, it's most likely the minister or priest. Even in Japan when you go through the countryside, you notice that even today each village has -- the biggest building amongst this whole cluster of houses is the Bukkyoukai, the Buddhist temple. Because the Meiji government, wanting to take away the influence and power of the Joudo Shin organization there -- who always managed to rally the poor or the downtrodden to speak up for their rights and so on -- they forced them to give up those influences and become city halls, so they just recorded births and deaths, and did administrative things for the lay people. So it kind of transferred over here -- that same dependence on having the priests in the community who could write letters for them, translations, all these things, right? And all those roles are no longer necessary today. So it's a huge confusion, I think in the ministry even today. Should they be like Christian pastors? Should they be like Zen monks? And the lay people don't know what they want from them either so -- very strange.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.