<Begin Segment 9>

MN: Now I'm gonna ask you about Japan. 1941, your family traveled to Japan in February. Why did you have to go to Japan?

JM: Because my grandmother was dying.

MN: Now, the ship had a stopover in Hawaii. What was the ship ride like to Hawaii?

JM: It was rough. I was seasick all the way. When we got to Hawaii, oh, we had a feast. I was so hungry. My mother was born in Hawaii, so she had lots of friends and relatives. Then from there we went to Japan, and before we got to Japan we had a big storm, big waves and the boat was going under, but I didn't get seasick. I got used to (it by them).

MN: Now, Hawaii, what was your first impression of Hawaii?

JM: A lot of Japanese. [Coughs] Excuse me. Is it alright? It was sort of like Japan, where you have to take your shoes off to get into the house, and they all spoke Japanese. It was a comfortable place.

MN: It was almost like Terminal Island, also.

JM: Yes, similar to Terminal Island.

MN: Now, your older sister had already gone to Japan, so when the boat landed in Yokohama, was she there to meet you?

JM: Yes. She was so happy. (About three years ago), one of my father's crew member decided to go back to Japan and my sister heard about that, and she decided she wants to go to Japan and no matter what they told her, (she was) so hardheaded, my folks sent her over. As soon as she got to Japan she wanted to come back. [Laughs] My grandfather (built) a beautiful home -- my father sent the money every month -- he built a beautiful mansion, and he bought rice paddies and mountains. He was really well. He didn't work after he went back to Japan, so my dad sent the money every month, so we had to suffer.

[Interruption]

MN: And I was asking you about what the train ride was like from Yokohama to Wakayama.

JM: It was congested, no sitting room. I had to stand all the way to, and that's a eight, nine hour ride?

MN: That's a long time to be standing up. So that was sort of your first introduction to Japan?

JM: What I really like was every station has lunch. Oh, it was delicious. I could look forward to the lunch.

MN: They call those ekiben? How many days did it take, at that time, to travel from the United States to Japan?

JM: Oh, almost three weeks. Maybe a little longer.

MN: So in the meantime, what had happened to your grandmother?

JM: Before we got on the ship we heard that she passed away.

MN: But because you had already made the arrangements to go to Japan you went anyways.

JM: She was my (...) mother's mother, and my father's mother was still alive, and his grandfather was still alive, too.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.