<Begin Segment 6>

MN: You went to Catholic church after the war. What convinced you to become a Christian?

YA: We went to a Bible class and immediately recruited. They told me that they believe in the equality of all. The biggest attraction for me was my very capable friend who asked me to join the group. She was a wonderful person. She was very warm, extremely modest and highly educated. I personally respected her. She was very devoted and asked me to go to church with her over and over, and I did one day. We were a bit late for a meeting. It was in the evening, and the church looked extremely romantic, partially because we were feeling so tired and hopeless after the war. She was waiting for me, knocked the door and let me in the church building. I met a French man with a big beard. I saw "Rikuchi Rudorai" written in katakana on the nameplate on the doorframe. It was a very unfamiliar name to me. The church building had stained glass, and plants around it were shimmering with evening dew. The stained glass was just beautiful. My friend knocked on the door and let me in. An old man with a big white beard answered the door. That was the Rudorai. He spoke beautiful Japanese and offered a warm welcome to us. He let us in, and my friend introduced me to him, and he welcomed me and talked to me so gently. I don't remember what we talked about. I was just so impressed by everything right away. I started to go to church every week with her. I joined the Bible study group. We discussed the idea of equality of all mankind. That was what I was looking for, and I was thrilled to realize I was right about the equality of men and women. My father was always the boss in our family, and my mother was having a hard time. She was having some health issues and yet was working very hard to meet the demands. My father was pretty bossy, just like any other guy back then. He was softer compared to other fathers but still always ordered us around. I was so happy to be told that we were all equal and getting more involved in the Bible study group. I made a lot of friends, shared our stories about our harsh experience during the war and got to know each other.

I had graduated from my school of nursing by then. We discussed our workplace situation with other members who were working for banks, schools and other places. We realized that all workplaces had their own issues and we needed to work on them with positive attitude. We were all so shocked right after the war ended, but we were beginning to feel energized again and getting ready to start anew. It was a great feeling. That's why I became a Christian and joined the group. I continued to go to church, and new groups were formed. I started to go to meetings every day after work. [Laughs] I was always busy at work and didn't have time to go home. Commuting took a lot of time, so I finally bought a bicycle with all the savings I had and went back and force by bicycle. That made the trip to church possible every Sunday. I was getting more involved, and we started a youth group. Men and women had separate groups. The church launched the "social life policy" for young people, so-called, the Catholicism established against the Communism. We were churchgoers but also learned about the Communism, as the opposite policy from ours. Some youth group members studied about it. Communism gained large popularity after the war, and that was against the Catholic policies. Catholic churches established social codes based on their dogma and their own labor policy for young people all over world. It was ordered by the Vatican in Rome, by Pope Pius XII. We were given a thick book to study and went to a study group every week. We started to apply the knowledge to the actual workplace, and the labor movement developed. We expanded our membership, and the group activities started to include member support with workplace problems. We studied about labor movements described in the book. The members established their own groups in the workplace. We were running various programs to support those groups to promote happiness for all, not sadness brought by war, rather than promoting the Catholic belief. The church head office offered a variety of programs and trainings, and we recruited new members and promoted the programs. We held monthly meetings to report on the work situation. People shared their stories about things like poor working conditions and received advice on the issues. Instructors for the youth group and the priest offered solutions based on the policies described in the book. I joined the group called JOC (Jounesse Ouvriere Chretienne / Young Christian Workers), and they established youth groups throughout the country. Retrospectively it was quite dogmatic, but the idea easily spread in the workplaces.

We had the union in our workplace, and I started to voice my opinions at the meetings. I studied the labor policies and expressed my thoughts on some issues. Some people thought I was too outspoken, but a lot of people supported me and joined the union. I was elected to be an officer of the union at the annual election. I had to accept it. I was recommended and voted into the office, and I had to accept it. I was going to church and also engaged in a variety of activities back then. I was taking tea ceremony and flower arrangement classes, not to be a good candidate for a wife, but just to enjoy them. I had a tea ceremony class on Sundays, and I was doing that for a long time. I was also certified as a flower arrangement instructor. I enjoyed all sorts of activities and had a lot of hobbies. I was elected as an officer of the union, and I had to give them all up. I started to wave a red flag instead of a small tea ceremony handkerchief.

I was running all over the place for the union after work and on my days off, seven days a week. We had a shortage of workers because there were not enough nurses. We were making constant demands for more nurses and for overtime pay. I was working for the surgical department, and I worked 100 hours overtime a month. That was intense labor. I once worked for 36 hours straight. I had cat naps and short breaks to eat, and worked for 36 hours. The nurse shortage was a big issue, and we developed a movement for more workers and so on. We stepped out of our Shizuoka Red Cross Hospital and had meetings with other unions too. We united with other unions for the prefecture office and the municipal office employees, and organized demonstrations. That was also when the anti Security Treaty movement started, and we joined the political movement too. I was extremely busy with all sorts of strikes taking place all over. I was a representative for our union and was supposed to participate to show our support of other groups. We lived in the dorm, and the curfew was ten o'clock. I worked for the union until then after work. I went to strikes in different places after work and also participated in our own strike. Ours was for a limited time and only four hours long. I went to many different places and national meetings. I was so busy and constantly running around. I always said I would need 25 hours a day. Other people had time to watch TV in their dorm room, but there was no way that I could do that. I also had to get up early in the morning and travel. I had my alarm clock set. The dorm didn't open until eight in the morning, but I asked the manager lady and got on a train. I went to Tokyo, went east, went north and went everywhere. I worked very hard and sometimes a bit discouraged to see other people enjoy knitting and other hobbies in their room. I sometimes wondered why I was the only one who had to work so hard. But I couldn't give it up. I was just running around to show the support of this strike and that group. I enjoyed many different activities at the same time. I went skiing when I had a bit of free time. I was constantly moving, 360 hours.

Our union activities slowed down as our demands were gradually met and some achievements were made. We presented policies and introduced a variety of new programs, but the members were not as enthusiastic in their response. There was a lot more to do, and we started to be involved with issues outside our own workplace. We had the situation with Polaris missile submarine right before I came to the States. [Ed. Note: In 1963, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Reischauer contacted the Administer of Foreign Affair Ohira for the views of the Government of Japan on the refurbishing visits of so-called "Nautilus" type submarines (SSN's), not submarines of Polaris type.] We actually have some current issues with this too. [Laughs] People were always suspicious that they made secret agreements. [Ed. Note: Possibly referring to the theory of secret agreement make between the U.S. and Japanese government to allow nuclear weapon visiting Japanese ports in case of emergency when The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security was signed in 1960.] That was indeed a secret agreement. We already found out about it back then. We knew that there was a secret agreement made in 1965. There was a demonstration planned to voice our opposition against the docking of the Polaris submarine at the Yokohama, Yokosuka Naval Base, I wrote slogans with a brush on a sash to wear. That was my last union work.

MN: You were engaged in labor and political movements, but your parents and siblings were hoping that you would get married as you are a woman.

YA: Of course. Yes, yes.

MN: You got married to make your parents happy.

YA: Well, there were a lot of women my age living in the dorm. People were telling me to get married, but I didn't really pay attention. A lot of my colleagues were in the same situation. We were busy at work, active in the union and just busy. I had several formal blind dates for arranged marriage when someone offered to arrange matchmaking. Just to take a look if you will, simply because the matchmaker spent some time to arrange a meeting for me. I didn't really feel like getting married though. I didn't miss out on anything by getting married and quitting my job. I didn't think I could do both. That is my personality. I am always focused, and I like to work very hard. I wanted to focus on my marriage if I got married. I didn't think it would work out to have a family and a job, especially in those days.

That motivated me to work hard through the union to have a daycare center established in the workplace for people to keep working after marriage. The slogan was "Daycare centers as many as mailboxes." We were making a big effort and negotiated with the hospital and other organizations. We presented a report to show them how many workers they could retain by providing a better workplace. They could have more workers and could offer better care for the patients. Worker shortage didn't offer great patience care. A daycare center would help the hospital to retain the workers, and that would provide better patient service. Worker shortage results in poor patient care. A daycare center would retain workers, and we could offer better patient care and practice better medicine. We worked very hard for that, but we didn't have enough space for it. It also was not easy to hire so many daycare workers. The biggest obstacle was the space. The facility just wasn't big enough. Japan is such a small country. It was a big hospital, but it was pretty crowded. I came over to the States in the middle of the negotiation. It took them thirteen years to have a daycare center built for them. A letter came to me all the way to let me know. All the way to the States. That gave me such relief. I was about to forget about it. I was busy over here after I came over. It might sound exaggerated, but I felt like I have been always working for other people. That's how I felt.

MN: Thank you very much for sharing your stories.

YA: Not really good ones though. [Laughs]

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.