<Begin Segment 14>

SY: Okay, so we were talking about your going to school in New York and enrolling at the secretarial school, so that really enabled you to get your first job then. I mean aside from your uncle's.

MK: Right, my first secretarial job.

SY: What was that like? What was your first job like, well, your first secretarial job?

MK: I was scared I know but then I worked hard and tried to learn what the business was all about and the boss was so nice to me.

SY: So you really didn't encounter much discrimination in New York City?

MK: No, I really didn't. I don't know if I avoided it or what but then I really can't say that I did.

SY: Even though the war was going on how about your friends? Did you ever talk to them about incidences or things that they might have gone through?

MK: No. Well, a lot of them were having difficulty finding jobs there but I think eventually most all my friends ended up with pretty good jobs in New York when I think back on it now.

SY: And how about your sisters? What did they end up doing once they stayed with your uncle?

MK: Aki in '46 left to go back to Hawaii to live. And then Sachi came to work with me at H.A. Johnson and Company.

SY: So you kind of paved the way for Sachi then to work there?

MK: Yeah, I think she probably could have gotten a job. I mean that's really not her field at all but it was, at that time we thought it was a pretty good paying job.

SY: I see. And then were they active in the social life, the same social groups... your social life really centered on this church.

MK: I guess I would say that, right.

SY: That's how you met most of your friends.

MK: But we had other good friends that we met along the way. I know this friend from Salt Lake and we used to do things together, go mostly to shows and plays, things like that.

SY: Mary, you never had trouble finding friends, huh?

MK: Yeah, I'm very fortunate that way.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.