<Begin Segment 2>

MN: Now, you know you have to go into camp and the war is going on. Did this prompt you to ask Masa Fujioka, for you to you ask Mary Masa Fujioka?

JK: Well, yes, because we knew that people were being sent, they were not caring where the families were divided. And so we took a chance and got married.

MN: How did you go about asking her to marry you?

JK: Well, because the father had been interned because he was a community leader. He was a secretary of the Japanese group, so he was picked up right away. In fact, it's like a movie mystery where people are tailed and don't know they're being followed. But they had a pretty good case on the father because he was such an important person.

MN: So he got picked up by the FBI?

JK: Yes.

MN: Was he... let's see, that's Shiro Fujioka?

JK: Yes.

MN: Was he the editor of the Rafu Shimpo Japanese section?

JK: Gee, I'm not sure what his real job was, but he was important in the eyes of the FBI.

MN: So in a traditional Japanese way, you would ask the father if you could marry the daughter, but the father's not there. So what did you do?

JK: Well, I drove my mother to see Mrs. Fujioka, and she felt the same way. You don't know where you're ending up. So she said, "Good luck."

MN: So the mother gave you her blessings?

JK: Yes.

MN: When did you get married?

JK: April 17th.

MN: 1942?

JK: Yes.

MN: Seventeenth or twenty-seventh?

JK: Must have been seventeenth.

MN: Seventeenth. Where did you get married?

JK: In one of the judges' chambers. At that time, the judges were the marrying type. They had offices open down Broadway, open for business for weddings such as ours.

MN: So who was present at your wedding?

JK: My sister-in-law and my bride's older sister, and another sister who were free to be witnesses.

MN: Anybody from your family?

JK: No, they were too busy doing something or other.

MN: Do you remember what you wore?

JK: Well, I had a suit because those days, when we went to dances, we dressed up. Like they would designate sports, formal or informal, men wore ties and coats. Yes, we did dress up for dances, not...

MN: Do you remember what Masa wore?

JK: Well, yeah, just regular dresses, I guess. Because most girls when they went to dances would wear a full dress. And, yes, but the girls did dress nicely, I think.

MN: Where was your reception?

JK: I just took the young men out who were around, chop suey. Yeah, that was about it. We didn't celebrate very much.

MN: So you didn't go to the Biltmore? You did not have a --

JK: We went to the Biltmore, yes.

MN: What did you do for your honeymoon?

JK: Well, there was a curfew, so we couldn't go anyplace except downtown, movie, limited travel.

MN: Did you spend it at a special hotel?

JK: Yes, we went to the hotel right across from Union church, the old Union church.

MN: Was that the Olympic Hotel?

JK: Yes, uh-huh.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.