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TI: So I'm curious, you talked about earlier, in Honolulu, you bought all these brand-new clothes. And so I'm guessing you wore that off the boat, the ship. Were you dressed like everyone else?

KT: Yeah, yeah. Same thing that we were dressed, the way I was.

TI: Oh, okay, so you didn't stand out.

KT: No, I didn't change.

TI: How about from the Japanese? Did you stand out in what you wore?

KT: Well, at least I could explain myself and all that, so I, somehow I managed. [Laughs]

TI: Well, so I'm curious, so how did the Japanese kind of think about you? When they met you, what did they think? Because you're not from Japan, you're from Hilo, and your language is probably a little bit different, and your clothes are a little bit different, I'm curious what they thought of you.

KT: Because it was a hotel, there were lots of people that come from islands and mainland. So I don't think they had any good special feeling the way I was dressed or anything. Because he already knew I was coming.

TI: But how about the dormitory, when you went to the dormitory?

KT: Dormitory, because Tsurumi dormitory was all from Hawaii.

TI: I see.

KT: From Maui or Molokai, Kauai and Hawaii. Five islands, nothing but island girls was there.

TI: How big was this dormitory? Like how many girls...

KT: Well, it's quite big, you know. Because the first floor was, had about five, five rooms, and this side had about a couple of rooms, and upstairs had two rooms. So, and then the dormitory meeting and the kitchen was in the separate room, separate place, so it was quite big. And they had, gee, how many of us? At least twenty, twenty girls was there from, all from the islands. So it was easy for me, plus, the girl that I was supposed to room, my father had took her there previously. So I was supposed to meet her, so I knew what was going on. And she knew what was going on, too, so she greeted me and we stayed together. That's how, that's how I was greeted, so, and the rest is all Hawaii. You know, Hawaii girls are easy.

TI: And so after you were at the dormitory and your uncle...

KT: He left. He left me, and I met all of them. And I met the matron, and she assigned me to where I'm supposed to go, and everything was done that way. But the sad thing was my roommate died not too long after I moved with her. I have the article.

TI: And what happened? How did she die?

KT: I don't know what kind of sickness she had, but she died. It was very sad. And it was about, about a year, I think. So we were... after breakfast, we always pray and recite the sutra. So when she died, we all went to her funeral. And we went to the crematory, and all the Hawaii girls recited the sutra and then sent her away. She was cremated, we pick up the bones and everything, we did everything and then notify the family in Hawaii that she passed away. We did that all in Japanese, now.

TI: You had been there about a year?

KT: Only year and a half, and yet, we could recite it. So it's amazing how the every morning sutra praying did affect us. It came through, and we did it. So the people was very surprised at that. All Hawaii girls, and they can do that.

TI: And the whole ceremony with bones...

KT: Everything we did. We stayed until all, until we pick up the bone. That's the first time I ever did go, do that kind of stuff. And that was only year after I went to Japan.

TI: And it must have been difficult, too, because you were close with this girl.

KT: Yeah, I was, and she was the one that was leading me to do this and that and all that.

TI: It was almost like an older sister for you.

KT: Yeah, just like an older... she was older than me, anyway. And I inherit all her things, so I could continue to go to school, the clothes and all that. Although I had...

TI: Did you ever write to her family or anything?

KT: No. We didn't know, we didn't know the address or anything, I just notified my father and he did the rest. Because he took, I think he must have done the rest of it.

TI: Were there concerns -- she died of some illness -- that this illness might have been contagious or anything? Was there some concerns about you?

KT: I don't... I think she had tuberculosis. I think that was it. But that was sad because she was so nice and she taught me so much. That came back to me lately, and I was looking through, because of our appointment, and I saw the article about her. I must have kept it.

TI: Thank you for sharing that.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.