<Begin Segment 26>

TL: You've mentioned that you were able to take that trip to Japan and I'm wondering if you could tell a little bit more about how that trip came about.

YB: Originally, I was looking at the Japanese newspaper and I think they had an English section if I recall, that showed that there were several people running for this contest. And we one of our, we had a couple of dear friends that would make the rounds, to come around and visit us from Los Angeles once in awhile. And approached me and said, "Would you be interested?" And I said, "I would, but what do you have to do? I need collect coupons or what?" And he said, "Votes." You had to have so many votes, the highest ten votes would get to go. So I tried to get as many subscriptions as I could and this friend said, "Well, don't worry." He said, "I'm going to go from here to San Francisco to all over and every place that I stop and any subscription I get, I'll put in for you." So I came in second, out of ten.

TL: And what was the name of that newspaper?

YB: There is a San Francisco and a Los Angeles one, Nichibei Shinbu was what it was if I recall, or Soko Nichibei and this Rafu Shimpo is the Los Angeles paper. And I think I worked through the L.A. group, at the time and they helped me get enough subscriptions and counts, so that I think I got a bicycle along with it, coming in second.

TL: Tell us about the trip.

YB: That was a wonderful experience. Two boys and eight girls, so before we left, said, "Boys this is America, you know, you know who waits on who." Two boys waiting on eight girls. But the minute that ship crossed the borderline for Japan, the boys said, "Girls you know where were at, get busy." [Laughs] So the eight of us had to wait on the two boys. For fun of course, but every once in awhile they'd take advantage of us and say this is a man's country. And we had a wonderful time. It... oh, I don't know what all that we did do, but the program was already scheduled for us. And we got to meet Prince and Princesses and nobility, Counts and Countesses, and had tea, wined and dined by them in their homes, and visit various schools. And in those days still, they were very, very interested in typing and we had one girl that was a night, an outstanding typist, so she would type. And one who had a wonderful voice, she could sing and I could whistle. And it was the whistling, that they would all sit there with their mouths open. [Laughs] And everybody trying to blow after that. And I understand recently from Japan, an elderly man, not elderly I suppose he's in his middle age, came and whistled at the Keiro Nursing Home. So it all stemmed from the time I went that I think whistling started. And there was no one there that whistled, really. So, I think it's, it took the country by storm, the students anyway. The students all trying to whistle.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.