<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So why don't we go ahead, or do you have any childhood memories before you went to Japan? Do you remember the house or anything before you went to Japan?

TU: See, I was born in 1925, and my mother took us four kids at that time back to Japan in 1926. So I was just a year old or something, in that order, so I didn't know what the reason was.

TI: So your mother goes with the four older, Gene, Nobu, Rusty and you, to Japan in 1926. And do you know why she went to Japan?

TU: The thinking was, as my brother explains it, I didn't know at that time but he explained it later on that she thought she would leave the four kids, four of us kids, with our grandfather and grandmother on my father's side, Uratsu side. And that's, the thinking was, then she could come back to the United States and work with my father. Whereas if she had four kids with her, she'd have to spend most of her time taking care of the kids. So that was the idea as I understand it for us being taken to Japan. And then in 1931, my grandfather died.

TI: Well, so before --

TU: Oh, excuse me.

TI: Yeah, so she was supposed to leave the four children, but then only you and your older brother stayed.

TU: Yeah. I didn't know enough to make a difference, but my brother by that time, my brother Gene had made friends in a very short time and so he was happy to be there. And the two in between, Nobu and Rusty, they made a big fuss. [Laughs] Wanted to go back with my mother, and so they compromised. They left two of us there and then she brought two back with her.

TI: And then Gene would then kind of look over you also as the older brother?

TU: No, not so much. The one that really took care of me or helped me is my grandmother and grandfather, they were very good. I liked my grandfather. And then in that little village there were these Uratsu relatives, you see. And so one of the relatives was Auntie Okie, and they had a family a little older than us, and so they used to take care of me. And when I left the Uratsu house and went to the Okie house, and they took care of me. Gave a bath, I remember, things like that.

TI: So your first childhood memories are from Japan.

TU: Yeah, exactly.

TI: That's the first things you remember. And then you were saying your grandfather died?

TU: In 1931, my brother's notes shows.

TI: And then so you and Gene were sent back to...

TU: Yeah. And that was in 1931 because that's when I remember President Hoover was the president at that time, and I remember that Roosevelt came in in 1932. And one of the things he did, as I remember, I remember at that time, he closed all the banks. Whatever that meant, I don't know, but they closed all the banks so you couldn't draw any money out if you had money in the bank. But for what purpose I don't know. To this day, I don't know. But anyway, that was a story that kind of remains in my mind.

TI: That's a great memory, because you're only six years old, and you would follow...

TU: Six or seven, yeah. Yeah, six years old.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.