<Begin Segment 32>

SY: So, Frank, I want to talk to you briefly about your relationship with Keiro and how that started. How did it start?

FO: Well, Edwin was trying to get... Joe Shinoda recruited Edwin Hiroto. Joe Shinoda was a flower grower but he was married to one of the female doctors. And Joe was a real innovating person, and he said we should get a hospital for the Japanese. So he and Edwin recruited George and me.

SY: George...

FO: Aratani.

SY: George Aratani.

FO: And Kiyo Maruyama. So he recruited us. And I didn't know anything about it.

SY: And you were at Sumitomo at the time.

FO: Yeah, I was at Sumitomo at the time. And then we wanted to buy the old Japanese hospital, but in order to do that, we had to buy up the stocks. And we asked all these stockholders to please donate it, and some of 'em donated it. They were all doctors and old families. So they sold it to us, or most of 'em donated it. So we started the hospital. And the hospital was too narrow, it was built, the hospital was too old. We couldn't get a wheelchair in certain areas, and that was against the law. So Edwin by chance met a guy who was trying to sell the Cityview Hospital. So he brought the proposal back to us, and George Aratani, Fred Wada, Kiyo, Ruth Watanabe -- that's a gal you should interview, she's interesting. Kiyo, Fred, and somebody else. Oh, Mitsumori.

SY: Oh, James Mitsumori.

FO: Yeah. See, they were the beginners or the founders of the Optimists Club.

SY: Kind of a downtown Optimists Club?

FO: Yeah, Mitsumori, Kiyo, Hiroto and those guys. I never joined the Optimists.

SY: So did they actually come to Sumitomo for money?

FO: No, no. Well, they were going to ask money, but they didn't know how much they need or anything. So that's where I got involved. And I brought it to my people, and they said to make a loan to a hospital or church, it's not right if you got to foreclose. I said, "Don't worry," I told them. And then George talked to Mr. Hotta. Mr. Hotta was the big man, he was the banker in Japan, and he was a Sumitomo man. He was president of Sumitomo. And when he came through here and he checked everything, and he was surprised that a community as large as us didn't have a hospital. So he encouraged us.

SY: And how did it change from being a hospital to...

FO: Well, the thing is, the hospital, we started the hospital, but the doctors didn't support us. If the doctors don't support us, who's going to bring in the patients, right?

SY: So the hospital wasn't a profitable...

FO: Yeah, profitable at all.

SY: I see.

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.