<Begin Segment 27>

MN: Now, years later you connected with a lot of people from the Shonien. Now in the Japanese American community, there's a stigma associated with being an orphan or staying in an orphanage. How did you feel about being in the Shonien?

MY: Originally you sort of feel... I don't know... you feel like you're inferior maybe. But as I got older, I realized, man, I'm a regular person. I mean, they ain't no better than I am. And just because I lost my mother and I didn't have a father, that's no stigma. And I realized yeah, they're no better than I am. First you may feel like that when you go out into the community, but because of the Shonien, I was really thankful that there was such a place.

MN: What are some of the reaction that you get from other Shonien people you meet?

MY: One of the friends that I met... this goes back years ago 'cause my younger brother and he both, they were real close. But when he was talking to some people, he'd ask them if they ever heard about Shonien and he was proud of the fact that there was Shonien that he could tell 'em about. And I thought, yeah, that's good. I mean, he was proud of the fact that he was in Shonien. And I've seen a lot of people that since Shonien has been left, and there's only one person that I know that doesn't want to be associated with Shonien, and that's a girl that I used to see at the bowling alley. Years ago I used to bowl quite a bit, and I used to see her at Holiday Bowl and I'd say, "Hi, Sachi," and she didn't want to be associated with people from Shonien, so I thought, gee, too bad I mean, she's the only one. She's the sister of this bully that used to be at Shonien. [Laughs] To me it was no loss, but she's the only one I know that was ashamed of the fact that she was in Shonien. I figure it's not your fault that you're there. Just be glad that there was such a place.

MN: I've asked my questions. Do you have anything else you want to add?

MY: No, I think I've said pretty much what I wanted to now.

MN: Do you think the community should recognize Mr. Kusumoto?

MY: Oh, definitely. I think as far as I'm concerned he was the greatest Japanese of all. If it wasn't for him, there would be hundreds of us that didn't have a place. Because I was there for about ten years and every couple of years I guess it would change... different people would come. And if there wasn't such a place, where would they go? So I know that in my mind he was the greatest Japanese person that I know of. I mean, there have been others like Mr. Fukui because he established a mortuary. But I know there are other people that contributed to the Japanese society, but as far as I'm concerned he was the greatest Japanese.

MN: You have this very extraordinary memory of the Shonien staff.

MY: No, I remember all of them.

MN: You remember Ei Yoshinaga?

MY: Yes.

MN: And she is the sister of Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig?

MY: Yes.

MN: Can you share that story how you met with Aiko?

MY: Well, Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig was very active in this redress movement and she was giving... I think there was a forum that she was giving a speech about the redress and things. So when I went, I took my wife I said, "Let's go see," 'cause I want to hear and we were sitting in the second row and she sat right in front of me. So when she got through I tapped her on the shoulder and I says, "Do you have a sister named Ei?" And she looked and she couldn't believe that somebody would remember her sister. This was not too many years ago. You figure this is 2011 and I don't know how many years ago, but when I knew her sister it was in 1932. So she looked, she couldn't believe somebody would know her sister. I said, "Yeah.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.