<Begin Segment 27>

SY: So when you came back to Little Tokyo and opened up the business, did you renew all the acquaintances from before the war? Was it pretty much a smooth transition from before the war to after the war, I mean, once you came back to L.A?

PM: It's not a matter of renewing because we're a big family, but just slowly I had accumulated enough names that I had been in contact with every Christmas and so that's the only way I keep in touch with them, and we did that, yes, slowly. But I had a family as well, so it kept me busy to take care of them.

SY: Did you, did you rely on your friends for business purposes? I mean, did you, did you develop business contacts?

PM: No, in that way I was very low key. I never went out selling. I just depended on referrals, and if we had satisfied clients then they would refer their friends and relatives to us, and that's how we kept going. I didn't go out like that to make sales.

SY: And what was your competition like when you first started and as you developed as a travel agency?

PM: Travel agency, that's something I never worried about because Dad always said, "Don't worry about competition. Competition is good for you. It really makes more sales." In fact, when he was doing the employment agency, if somebody wanted to start an employment agency he would go and help them and he would give them samples of our employment forms. He would tell them, "Any way we can help you, let us know." He really encouraged competition, so I never worried about that. I'm friends with all of my competitors now, and I will call them sometimes and see how they're doing. We try to work together on some promotions, but each company has its own way of doing things and sometimes it just doesn't work. But I am friendly with all of them, which is a little unusual.

SY: Right, very unusual. When you were, when you first started, did you know that you were going to be dealing with a lot of Japanese travel, or was that something that you wanted to specialize in?

PM: No. I just take care of them as they come. In fact, I have one organization that is non-Japanese. It's International Dry Cleaners Congress, it's a convention that goes on once a year, and the very first year I handled them was 1965 and I took a hundred and thirty people to Japan. And I still have that account and it's almost fifty years, so every year -- actually, the first time I had to bid for the business, and I had a help, I had a supporter and he helped me even though some very, very famous bids went in. But I got the business. And every year I had to bid again so that finally after about four years they made me the permanent travel agency for the convention, and I still have them. I've taken them around the world. I've taken them to South America, I've taken them everywhere in all this time. They're, and they're not Japanese. They're not, they're all --

SY: Caucasian.

PM: Caucasians, or they come from Italy or they come from London or they come from all over the world 'cause it's an international convention, and we do it all by email and by phone calls.

SY: So you don't, so luckily you've sort of outgrown that sort of feeling of being -- or do you still feel a little less, less than because people treat you differently. These people don't treat you any differently.

PM: It took me a long time to get rid of that feeling, however, when I started handling the Caucasian people. I even had somebody come from Boston, they said, "Gee, you're the first Japanese I've ever met, 'cause sometimes the people from Japan come into the hotels in Boston and they come in their slippers and they're so noisy." And so I knew she was prejudiced, but I overcame it after I got to meet her 'cause I said, "I'm Japanese American." So yes, there was a little bit of that prejudice in my mind that I worried about. I still do, but I try to counteract it with good service, so they're all very loyal.

SY: Now, your primary business, though, is Japan travel, right?

PM: It just turned that way.

SY: It turned --

PM: Because I speak Japanese and I can read Japanese fairly well.

SY: And how did you learn to, to...

PM: Before the war I went to Japanese school up to fourth grade, and then after the, in camp there was a Japanese class that went on for just a little while, and then after the war it's just my own education.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.