<Begin Segment 29>

SY: So when you ended up back in Los Angeles, you met your husband at the church, you said, through your friend.

NS: Yeah. Actually, first time I met him with my sister-in-law at her house. But then I didn't see him, I didn't talk to him or anything like that. I just said, "Oh, hi," and that was it. And then I met him at church, and then I said, "Hey, how are you?" this and that. And he said, "You want to go out to movie?" And I don't even know him, I said. I said, "Well, okay, I can go out with you." So then I went out with him, it was nice, and he seemed to be a friendly guy. He wasn't working at the time, he didn't have a job, so he said he's looking for a job. He'd just come back from army, so he was looking for a job and wasn't working. So he said, "You want to go out to lunch?" and this and that and started coming over every day. "Urusai na," I said. [Laughs]

SY: Now, you switched then from being, going to the Buddhist church, when you got to West L.A. you went to Christian church.

NS: Yeah, uh-huh. That was because of my husband. My husband was a Christian. He was a West L.A. member.

SY: So you just decided...

NS: Uh-huh. Because I was not a member of the Buddhist church anyway. It was my, whatever I wanted to do. I'm old enough to know, and I was gonna get married, so it's up to me.

SY: And how was that changeover?

NS: Well, I really was not a real Christian, because I was not brought up as a Christian. I was a Buddhist, remember? So I was kind of scared. But I studied and I really got interested in it. I read some of the bibles, and the term was so much easier than Buddhist. Buddhist you had to read Japanese. So I didn't really learn... I mean, you know, the idea of being any kind of religion, you mind everything and it was okay. But when you read the Christian bible, it was really interesting. So then I said, oh, I think I'm going to become a Christian. Then when I married my husband, I said I want to be Baptized. So I went and I got Baptized.

SY: And that was when? Was it before you got married?

NS: I was going into thirties. I met him four years before, but I didn't have nothing to do at that time. Then when I decided to get married, I was already thirty or thirty-something.

SY: So you were not, most of your friends were probably already married.

NS: No, no. Because the wartime, see, don't forget, it's the wartime. So they were kind of reluctant. Where are they gonna stay and what are they gonna do? So most of my girlfriends were unmarried that time. Matter of fact, some are still not married. [Laughs]

SY: I didn't realize... it seems as if people got married younger back then.

NS: Well, that was before. That was my sister's time. My sister's time, everybody was getting, left and right they were getting married. My older sister.

SY: But during the war...

NS: During the war, nobody was getting married. They were scared. They don't know what to do, they don't know what they're gonna do, unless they really fall in love and they want to get married, that was different. They got away and got married.

SY: So it was very common, then, for people to get married right after, right?

NS: Yeah. 'Cause it used to cost a lot of money to get married, so people had object of that, too.

SY: And you got married in the Christian church?

NS: Yes, yes. No. You mean married? No, no. I got married in Koyasan Buddhist church, yes. But then I became Christian later. I was a Buddhist. Remember I told you I was a Buddhist? 'Til I got married.

SY: Oh, so even though your husband was Christian...

NS: Uh-huh. But then it didn't matter to him at that time. I guess he wanted to get married to me, so he got married at Koyasan. I got married in Koyasan.

SY: Downtown.

NS: Yeah. I think my father was kind of doing something with it, giving money there or member or something, my family was.

SY: And your parents were still living when you got married?

NS: Yes, yes.

SY: And so they were able to meet your husband?

NS: Oh, yes, oh, yes.

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.