<Begin Segment 34>
SY: So the Japanese community, is there a reason you decided to stay in Pasadena?
EN: Well, I don't know. I guess I just fell in love with Pasadena, the way they treated me when I came back and all the wonderful friends we made here. Just became my home.
SY: Really, that's lovely. And now how is it that your parents, since your parents went back to Japan, how were you able to keep in touch with them?
EN: Well, because they were in Japan and I wanted to see them I wanted to work for an airline, and I was lucky enough to find a job with the Flying Tiger airline, which is an all cargo airline, and so that way I was able to fly to Japan at least once a year at no charge. And I did that all the while I was working there.
SY: That was from, from when to when?
EN: Let's see, I don't, I can't remember. [Laughs]
SY: That's okay. But it was quite a few years?
EN: Many, at least twelve, fourteen years. I could still use my airline benefits if I wanted to, but they're gone now.
SY: The Flying Tigers -- oh, your parents. [Laughs]
EN: Yeah, my parents. The Flying Tigers became the FedEx Corporation.
SY: I see. So your parents then were really well situated in Japan?
EN: Yes. They, let's see, I don't, I guess they built, they didn't build, but they built, bought a lovely home in Shinjuku, no, Koganei, which is a really nice community in Tokyo, in the suburbs. And they had a very wonderful life there until Papa passed away. And Mama lived by herself for a few years, but then my relatives said that she was having a tough time by herself so we brought her back to live with us, and we had her for eleven years after she came to live with us.
SY: How nice. But they were, they clearly were happy that they decided to move back to Japan.
EN: Yes. They had a very, very joyous social life. They followed their hobbies and had relatives they could visit. They had fun.
SY: And your mother, when she came here, what did she end up doing? Was she pretty --
EN: She immediately signed up with her music classes.
SY: Good.
EN: And she was busy. We were busy squiring her to all her music classes, and she had fun while she was living with us.
SY: That's great. So it was a nice rounding out of their, of her life, to come back and be with you.
EN: I hope so, yes. We really, really enjoyed having her with us.
SY: So really she had to leave family behind in Japan, then?
EN: She had an older sister and their family, and a younger brother, so she had people she could call out there.
SY: So your, so she, how long ago did she pass away?
EN: I don't remember. I should've looked it up before you came.
SY: That's okay. That's not that important. And, and when is it that you retired, roughly? How many years have you been retired from working?
EN: Let's see, when did I retire? I don't remember either. [Laughs]
SY: 'Cause it's --
EN: 1981 maybe, or '82. Somewhere around there.
SY: Really? So now what does your life consist of today?
EN: I'm just enjoying being a social butterfly, just flitting around and reading the paper from cover to cover and just taking life easy.
SY: And your husband, what does he do?
EN: He's retired also. And I feel really bad because in my younger days I wanted to fix the world and do really wonderful things, but I'm not really doing it right now. [Laughs]
SY: Well in some ways you have. I don't know, do you look back and think, I mean, having, being given all this attention that you've been given --
EN: No, I don't have any regrets. I'm just glad that I didn't do anything really bad in my life.
SY: But it's, but it was an important thing that happened to you, I guess.
EN: That's what I've been told.
SY: But also I'm wondering that, along the way you made some very conscious choices, one was clearly to stake out whenever nobody else went, right?
EN: Well I think I was very lucky to be able to do that. It was a great opportunity to strike out and do something, perhaps help other people, so I'm glad I was able to do that.
SY: So you feel, is that, is that something that you, that stays with you in terms of the way you approach life? Is it something that you continue to do? I mean, do you speak out about things?
EN: Usually. [Laughs]
SY: Wow. Well, Esther, I think this has been a wonderful interview. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's a very important one.
EN: Thank you for coming. I'm so glad you came, and I hope that it will prove interesting to some people.
SY: It will. Thank you.
<End Segment 34> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.