<Begin Segment 17>

SY: And tell me what happened with your parents when they first arrived in New York. Do you remember that? How did they react to this?

MK: I'm sure they were overwhelmed but thank goodness for my uncle. He really took care of them and then when they got this apartment house I think they felt really good about that having a place to stay and a place that they could interact with other people because all the young people started to come and so my mom took them all in. I don't know how many rooms there were but --

SY: She kind of managed this boarding house?

MK: Yeah.

SY: So that was her job?

MK: Yeah.

SY: And your father, what did he do?

MK: He did all the janitorial work so it was good for them to have something to do.

SY: I see.

MK: But I know he was dying though to come back here. He wanted to go back to the farm.

SY: And how long did they end up... they were there for five years?

MK: Close, maybe not that long.

SY: If they came after the war.

MK: They probably came back about '52, '51, '52.

SY: So they were there a good number of years.

MK: And it was good because my brother Paul came back and he took a gardening route so that my dad could have something to do. So he went with him on that.

SY: Once your family was all in New York then how did your, what was the living situation? Did the younger kids end up going back with your...

MK: Yeah, they were in that boarding house, they had rooms there. And then Sachi and I were in the apartment and by then Aki had gone back to Hawaii.

SY: So Dorothy and the two boys were with your parents by then and they stayed in school and got their education. Did your siblings all end up, besides you and Sachi and Aki, did they end up staying in school? Were they able to?

MK: Yeah.

SY: They went through high school.

MK: Yeah, they all graduated high school.

SY: Graduated.

MK: George went special, I don't know, NYU or somewhere. I mean, he learned his trade there and so he got a good job with Hewlett Packard.

SY: And Dorothy, what happened with her?

MK: Dorothy graduated from high school and she took a nurses course. She wanted to be a nurse so that's what she did. She was a nurse for this doctor for many, many years.

SY: Here.

MK: Here in Los Angeles, right.

SY: And your other brother.

MK: Paul, the youngest, went to work for the city and so he just retired recently.

SY: So he had kind of an administrative job?

MK: No, he actually worked with water, was it Water and Power. Well, they took care of the yards here and there I know. I don't know exactly but he was out in San Gabriel Valley way.

SY: So he managed to get this job right from high school?

MK: No, only after he did gardening for a while with my dad. And then I guess after my dad passed away then he applied for this civil service job. He was very... has the benefits now so that's good, that worked out good for him.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.