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IH: And then when graduate, 1948, graduate college, I told you should be that year, August, coming back to Honolulu, but couldn't do it 'til the next, following year. '49, February, I came back to Hawaii.

TI: So explain this again. So 1948, August, you graduate...

IH: No, March.

TI: March of 1948.

IH: Yeah.

TI: Okay, March 1948, and so at that point you wanted to come back to Hawaii?

IH: Yes.

TI: But then explain again. So the Port of Hawaii wasn't open? There was a, you said a strike or something, or some problem with...

IH: No, for the second generation, didn't have no trouble.

TI: Okay, so why didn't you come back in 1948?

IH: Oh, 1948, first of all, my father's friend in Hawaii found out my father died, so my mother have to raise the two boys. That's hard in Japan so, "Why don't you send one of them? As long as they're working, if he's willing to work, send him in." Because we cannot pay the dollar, somebody have to pay the boat. So then we tried to talk, hey maybe we have more chance to Hawaii. Then I start to do it. Then everything came out good and had the okay to come back here. My boat was August 1948, but that time Hawaii has a dock strike and couldn't, boat was, cannot come this side. So I have to wait 'til the following year, February. That's when the first boat, first ship came out to Honolulu from Japan.

TI: So who paid your boat fee?

IH: Oh, that time, my uncle. My uncle is in Honolulu, and then we have an uncle and then if I don't, we don't ask, that's a bad.. we're going to ask uncle first. And if he cannot, then my father's friend.

TI: I see. Before you come to Hawaii, in the years right after the war, how much help did you get from family and friends in Hawaii? Did they send packages or anything to you during the war?

IH: Yeah.

TI: What kind of things did they send?

IH: Something, clothes mostly. Because clothes, cotton you couldn't get. So they put 'em in a box and then send us quite a bit.

TI: And how important was that to the family to get these packages?

IH: Oh, it's really good, because the clothes, they don't have. So if we have enough, we can sell to the... and then we can make money. Because everybody says American clothes is good. And later I'm going to tell you, but after I come down, I did the same thing. Send things.

TI: Oh, so after you were in Hawaii, you would send things to Japan. And you knew it was, how valuable that was, how important.

IH: Right.

TI: Interesting.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.