<Begin Segment 8>

MN: You mentioned that Mr. Rokuichi Kusumoto is the founder of the Shonien. Did you have any contact with him?

MY: Not really personal contact with him. He just more or less oversaw, I guess, getting financing and things like that because it took a lot of money to run that place.

MN: Do you know how he raised money for the Shonien?

MY: Oh, yeah. Well, he had a board of directors, I guess there was like maybe ten people on there like influential people in the Japanese community. Like Mr. Fukui, Fukui Mortuary, Mr. Tsuchiya he was a very influential in Glendale, Reverend Yamazaki, St. Mary's Church, you know, a lot of influential people that he had on the board of directors and they would meet every so often. Later they had another board of directors, a younger group, 'cause like Mr. Fukui and Yamazaki, they were all pretty old, but then he got this younger group, Dr. Ishimaru, Nob Kawai, Pasadena, Miss Bessho, Montebello, Lillian Matsumoto and Harry Matsumoto but... Mrs. Sue Ando. There was a lot of people that I guess they wanted to get involved with the Shonien. And they helped to raise funds for him so he was smart in that way that he more or less got influential people in the Japanese community to get involved, and I'm sure that's how he... because I know that it took a lot of money to raise that many kids.

MN: Were a lot of the food donated?

MY: Yeah, a lot of was donated because I remember going to the Ninth Street Market with them. We had a truck, Shonien had an old Model T truck and we'd go down to the Ninth Street Market, park there, and I'd stand in back and all these people would be bringing vegetables. And they knew because I guess he had gone to these different places, and as soon as we parked the truck here comes all these different vegetables. I'd stand in the back and stack 'em up, so we always had a lot of vegetables and we always had fruit, apples and oranges. I don't remember things like watermelon, honeydew and cantaloupe and things like that, but we always had plenty of vegetables.

MN: You also mentioned that there was this program he would do bringing the children to go see movies?

MY: They used to... you mean us children in the Shonien? No, I don't remember going to too many. We did go to a few. There was a movie house on Sunset Boulevard called the Vista, it was a theater, and I remember going there a few times but we didn't go that often.

MN: Wasn't there an event though that he would show the Japanese movies?

MY: Yeah, Mr. Kusumoto used to, had a projector, and I don't know where he got these Japanese movies, these films, but I remember going with him to like Montebello. I guess he knew this Reverend Fukushima there and they would sell tickets and he would get all the proceeds from it and he'd show these Japanese movies. But I remember going with him and showing movies at different places, mostly churches.

MN: Did you understand the movies?

MY: No, I just went there just to help him set up the projector and things. But he used to go. Every once in a while I'd go with him.

MN: Were you the only one that went with him?

MY: Yeah, 'cause I was one of the older ones.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.