<Begin Segment 13>

SY: You definitely took, well, it's the same with being on stage and all of that. You were different from other...

TF: Yeah, and it's funny because I, we were always surrounded by a lot of Hispanic people, but not really by black people. And they were always referred to by the Japanese as kurombo at the time. Then when we went to Chicago there were a lot more. And that was a strange feeling, to go out of camp and then to see all the different races and really, no one quite mixing with each other either. And when I got out of camp, a lot of Japanese Americans all really kind of stuck together, the Caucasians stuck together, the black people. But slowly I made friends with one or two in each group. But it's not like you could all mix easily in together.

SY: I can imagine, especially after camp, right after camp. Because going to Chicago... well, were there a lot of people, I mean, did people you know go to Chicago at the time that you went?

TF: I think... I think I just made all new friends there. The only time I can remember really... maybe this is what helped me to be able to make friends and then go on. Because in camp, there was one girl from Hawaii, and I always remember her name, Yasuko, but I don't remember her last name so I can't look her up. But I remember when she left, or I left, one of us left. I don't remember a lot of our playing together, but I must have had great affection for her because I remember kind of bawling. Not just little tears, it was just, I really felt sad to leave her. But then I found that was life. You're always meeting people and then... but doesn't mean it has to be the end, but at that time, it felt like something so broken, and why didn't we think to write? We didn't do that. But just like I do a lot of, I did a lot of regional plays, and when you're working in regional plays you bond very strongly like a family. You kind of, it's a very intense feeling. You may never see them again, you may see them years later, I just kind of got used to it, I know what the feeling is like, I know, and to enjoy that moment. And once in a while I'll come across someone and I just think, "I don't want to lose them. I want them in my life." Then I put out an extra effort and I try to hang on to them. And I don't know when that happens. It's like, I suppose, chemistry. Chemistry, you always wonder, how is the chemistry, how do two couples get together? It's not 'cause they... you know, if you're trying to match it by what they are, what they study or what... chemistry is such a funny thing.

SY: Absolutely.

TF: But I think in order to have a friend, you have to be a friend. You have to lend yourself to it. Every now and then, it's so interesting, I'll meet someone and I think... and it has nothing to do with sex. It's just, I want that person in my life. And I remember taking an acting class with a young girl, and I just was so taken with her. I thought, "What is it about her?" I have children of my own. But there was something... and today I feel like she's like family to me, like one of my children. But children are children, this is a friend. And periodically it just happens. It's like magic, isn't it? Chemistry, and it has to do... and it doesn't just happen overnight. Friendship takes time.

SY: Do you think, though, it has something to, you mentioned that in your life you've moved around a lot it seems. I mean, certainly into camp and out of camp.

TF: Yeah, and then I went from, you know, I graduated high school in Chicago, and then I wanted to go off to college. I wanted to go to a small college. I went to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Now, when I left camp, all those years in Chicago I thought there was a lot of prejudice yet, just people staring at me, people saying mean things. And even the people who you would expect to be supportive of you are not, they're always so critical. I mean, I felt probably there was a lot of criticism because I am more outgoing. I want to do things, and it's like the little nail that's sticking up, but don't mean to. It's just 'cause I want to do something that gives me pleasure. I don't see it as anything bad, or maybe when all the Japanese people are trying to stick within the community I would step out of the community. What happened is the sister who is a nurse wrote a paper, and it always made an impression on me. "The only way you're going to get rid of prejudice is if you really step out into all the, get more and more people to be part of your community so they know who you are in a way." Or marrying out of the race, you're mixing. Something about that paper stuck with me, and I've always tried to take a person as an individual, not 'cause they're Japanese or black or whatever.

SY: It's unusual, though, it's an unusual way of thinking for a Nisei, don't you think? Did you have friends who... I mean, did you identify yourself as just a little different back then?

TF: I don't know that I thought of myself as different, but I think people were not always so approving of my stepping out.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.