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MN: Now, let's see, in 1939 your sister Mariko turned twenty-one, and so what significance did this have for your Issei parents? What was your father able to do after Mariko turned twenty-one?

BK: Well, I guess things were pretty good at that time, and he wanted something more permanent. And the laws were that if you were born here and turned twenty-one you could then purchase land, so he was looking around and found something close by, only three blocks away, at 2617 East 3rd Street in Boyle Heights. And he purchased it under her name. And so it was a two story house with one, two, three, four, five bedrooms and two bath and a deep lot. And he purchased it and we were very close to Roosevelt High School on 3rd Street, between Mott and Fickett Street, and it was handy for us because I, I could walk to First Street school, walk to Hollenbeck, walk to Roosevelt. It was that close. Only took minutes.

MN: Now, how long did your family own this house?

BK: It owned the house from the time they purchased it before World War II and he had someone stay in the house while we were in camp. My father and mother passed away, it went on title to my sister Mariko, and she owned the property and lived in it until she passed away. After she passed away we sold it.

MN: So would this be in the '80s or '90s or 2000s?

BK: I don't remember the exact year, but it must have been when she was maybe her sixties or late seventies, so... I don't know, it had to be, I think in the sixties or seventies.

MN: When Mariko was, when Mariko was, was in her sixties or seventies?

BK: When Mariko was, when she passed away. I don't know how, how old she was then. But she was never married. She was supposed to get married, but my father didn't approve her intermarrying a Chinese man so she had to call it off. Just broke her heart.

MN: Okay. Well, when you were living in Boyle Heights, you talked about Mr. Muto, who used to come around in his truck. Tell us about Mr. Muto. What was he selling?

BK: Mr. Muto was a traveling vegetable man. He had a large truck, and on that truck he had all kinds of boxes full of vegetables. I mean, onions, you name it you would need for a family that needed to go out and buy groceries, well, he carried everything and would drop into the house once a week. And also he had ice, packed ice with fish, and so when he came around my mother would come out and look at what he had, not only in fruits and vegetables, but more the fish. Because she didn't drive, she didn't walk far, and it was very convenient that he came by. So she bought whatever (fish he had) and she packed it in the icebox for our food for dinner. Mr. Muto made the rounds once a week, so he was our traveling grocery store.

MN: Now, you were talking about how your mother was very fixed in terms of what she made for lunch for you. What did you bring to lunch every day?

BK: She was not a very (variable), person that wanted to make interesting sandwiches. It was the same kind of sandwich that she packed for us every day, and inside would be a peanut butter jam sandwich and a fruit, and then she would go down to the wholesale house and buy a box of chocolate "kisses." You know those little silver things? And she would throw so many into the, the lunch box, lunch bag. And usually it was a tuna sandwich. It's a tuna sandwich that she put on with the bread, and by the time I got to lunch it was soggy. But that was the usual fare: tuna sandwich with a fruit and kisses. [Laughs]

MN: Now, your parents were active Seicho no Ie members. Do you know how they became Seicho no Ie members?

BK: I don't know. I think she was having physical problems of some sort, and what happened was she finally went and tried Seicho no Ie, which is a, a new religious group that started. And then they started meeting at our house, because downstairs living room, dining room could be put together and became a little assembly room for the local people to come in. The Seicho no Ie sold a big, like a bible, and they would open it up and read a certain paragraph of the Seicho no Ie and someone would get up there and talk about whatever it was. And my mother was good at making, what is it, those Japanese (manju). (...) She'd make that for every meeting they had at our house, so the Seicho no Ie meeting was once a month and she would work all day making the manju. She would steam it, have a pink manju and a white manju, and after the sermon was over they would come out with manju and tea. She was a busy lady, making manju. Yeah, I remember that.

MN: Now, Sei Fujii was also Seicho no Ie. Did -- he was with the Kashu Mainichi -- did he come to your house?

BK: I don't recall all the people that came to our house because there were more Isseis. Usually days when they had a meeting I was busy outside playing sports. I wouldn't be hanging around because I wouldn't understand what they were saying. And it was no place for a young person. It's a seniors' meeting.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.