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RO: Can I jump out there and say something out of order?

MN: Sure.

RO: Do you know, when I returned from a trip to Japan, it was a part of a JACL leadership program. At that time it was organized by the Himinto, the ruling party at the time. And so JACL selected a number of leaders, and I was included. 'Cause at the time, I was one of the vice-presidents at the national level. And I think that was a surprise to the Japanese hosts, because they were expecting all males. But part of the trip involved visiting our home prefectures. And so I visited Kumamoto, and at the time, the governor was Hosokawa. And later he became prime minister, and actually, I got a chance to meet him when he visited Los Angeles at the time I was at the mayor's office, to come full circle.

MN: Let me ask you, Rose, you know, this group, was it all male except you?

RO: It turns out, no. This is American style, and we sent, there were two other women, one of 'em is Jeanette, she's from central Cal, from a farming family. Do you know her?

MN: No, I don't know her. But because you folks were female, were you treated differently when you got to Japan?

RO: It was kind of disconcerting, I think, from some of our hosts. They're really not used to, especially back then, talking to women. Actually, when I did a lot of work with Japanese business executives working in Mayor Tom Bradley's office. And typically, they would call me Och-san because they don't, they wouldn't think about talking to a female, so I was fine with that, Och. Yeah, I've had some interesting experiences with Japanese business executives. One time, he said, "You know, you're a woman, you're an American, and this should be kind of different. And yet," he says, "I feel very comfortable with you, I don't know why." And I told him, "Because there's a time warp. I represent Meiji values from my parents. And so while we are negotiating and talking about some difficult political situations and all, I bring those values and those thoughts to the conversation, and that's, probably that provides that comfort."

MN: So although you're female, which may be kind of a disadvantage, and yet, because you have these values and you understand them, it seems like it was an advantage.

RO: Well, I think so. I remember one time, I was meeting with a very top executive, a very political gentleman, and we were going to go in and meet with dignitaries in New York. And so they were deciding who was gonna go into this meeting. And some middle-level executive looked at me and said, "No, Och." And I was fine with that. Now the big shot comes in and he says, "Och, who should go in?" So I said, "Well, you, and myself," and I pointed out a couple of others. And then, finally, I point out the guy that zinged me. After the meeting, he came over and he says, "Ochi-san," he said, "thank you." He says, "I think you're Japanese." He says, "You understand." I said, "If you understand, you should go commit hara kiri right now." And we had a good laugh about that.

MN: But in a sense, it's kind of true.

RO: Well, part of it is going to samurai movies.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.