<Begin Segment 19>

TI: Now, after the war, have you visited Japan?

KT: Yes, we did, on traveling, yes. Twice, twice, I think.

TI: And so what years did you return to Japan?

KT: When was it? I forgot what year it was. Two times, no? We went. The second time we went was I wanted to... because I was getting old, I wanted to meet my first cousins, which my mother's sister's children, they're all first cousin to me. I wanted to meet them, and I did. Every one of them. And they were surprised that I was eighty-something, yeah, and they said, "And you look much better than us." They're all younger than me. So that's how I met them. So I want to go back again, one more time.

TI: Good. I'm thinking, the people that you stayed with in Japan before the war...

KT: I didn't meet them. I didn't meet them.

TI: Do you know what happened to them?

KT: I don't know what happened to them. The address changed so much. I have the old address, but I don't know how to get in contact with them.

TI: Even like the manager of the hotel?

KT: But the first time when I went back, I got in contact with the house that I was living the last, I met them. That was the last I met them. And after that, I don't know what happened. They were getting old, too, already. But the lady died, that, they told me that.

TI: Did you ever have a good sense... do you have a good sense, a good sense of the, the suffering that they did after the war?

KT: Yeah, I don't know what they did. After the war, they had, they must have struggled. But the last time when I saw them, he was doing good.

TI: And when you went back the first time --

KT: First time, yeah, that's when I saw them.

TI: How much had Japan changed? It was long, many years...

KT: Oh, it changed a lot, a lot. Then you have to know how to go about that. It was different from the time I stayed there. Amazing. Amazing. They're terrific.

TI: Yeah, because you went at a time when Japan was doing really well.

KT: Yeah, they're doing well. They are something other. I can see why they brag. [Laughs]

TI: Good. Well, so I finished all my questions, I'm wondering if there's anything else that you want to talk about.

KT: No, it's good enough.

TI: [Speaking to KT's daughter] Or is there anything else that you can think of that I should ask her for the record?

KT: I covered most, yeah?

TI: Well, we should just mention, so you mentioned your husband Larry, and then you had how many children?

KT: Oh, three. Two and one in Maui.

TI: Okay, so Carol...

KT: Gwen and Iris.

TI: Iris. Okay, three, three girls.

KT: Three girls.

TI: Good. Okay, so I think that's...

KT: Yeah, my husband was the 100th Battalion.

TI: 100th.

KT: Yes.

TI: Is he, is he still alive, your husband?

KT: No, he's dead. Ten years already. Ten years already.

TI: So thank you so much for taking the time. I know I asked lots of questions.

KT: I hope I did okay.

TI: Oh, you did wonderfully. Both of you are such good storytellers. This was, this was fun. The Cultural Center will really like these interviews, so this will be good. So thank you so much.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.