<Begin Segment 20>

TI: So we kind of finished the war years, and I want to kind of jump ahead because during the break you were telling me about an interesting trip that you took to Cuba, to meet some Japanese Cubans. So can you tell me, what year did this happen?

MK: I think it was 2002.

TI: Okay, 2002.

MK: I'm trying to...

TI: And tell me about the group that went to Cuba.

MK: It's called Tsukimi-kai.

TI: And what does that mean? Does that, was there a --

MK: Tsukimi is, you're looking at the moon. Tsukimi is moon-looking group.

TI: And what was the purpose of the visit?

MK: We went down to find out about their incarceration.

TI: The Japanese Cubans.

MK: We found out, yeah, we found out that they were incarcerated, so we went down and we went through, we can't go directly, we went through Mexico. Like some of us went to Cancun, some of us went to Mexico City, and then we landed in Cuba. And there was a whole contingent of Japanese people there, and so they took us around. Most of the time we were on this island called the Isle of Man, and we were there and there were some Cubans in, Japanese Cubans in Havana, but most of these people were in, and most of the people are from Okinawa. So when we went there, jeez, no wonder they thought it was Okinawa. There was orchids and pineapples growing. They got bananas. They thought, gee, it was just like home. They really, really, they really enjoyed it. But we went down and we saw, we saw the jail. And it, and then we were so surprised, I thought, you talk about Tule Lake's jail, this was even worse. This was even worse. It was like the size of this table.

TI: So during the whole war they were in these jails?

MK: They were in there. And I think eight men committed suicide. I know some of them did, I don't know.

TI: Now, in Cuba was it the whole community that, like men, women and children, or just the men?

MK: No, just the men.

TI: Okay.

MK: So the men, and then what happened was when the people that lived in Havana, they had to go by boat and go over to this Isle of Man and then go to this jail, and then they'd talk through the, through the glass with a hole in it. Fifteen minutes and the ladies have to go home, all the way back. So the husbands all said, "Teach the kids Japanese 'cause we're gonna go back to Japan after." and so they all, so they all speak Japanese, the Niseis. And they all sing those Japanese songs. I was so surprised. And what they celebrate -- before I went I wanted to find out what to take, and they said bring senko and candles. So we, I was surprised, so from the Buddhist thing they gave me, boxes of senko and boxes of candles and then I went there. Well, they celebrate Bon, and that's a Buddhist thing too, and then New Year. We went New Year's.

TI: So Oshogatsu.

MK: Yeah. And then first thing, one thing we did was we all went to the grave. And sure enough, they're all over the graves, all the Japanese are all together and they have, and so they all dance around these graves. And then one place they have this, on the Isle of Man they have this big columbarium, and all the ashes, all the ashes are in these... every Cuban Japanese could die and they'd fit in there. It's a huge thing. And so the other people went Bon time, and then we took taiko and we taught them taiko. And I took mochi and senbei and stuff, and some lady was going, "I remember something like this when I was a kid." Yeah, so we were surprised, but they were so... but I learned from them people that one Okinawan, two ladies' sister, her sister in Okinawa invited her to come to Okinawa and she went there, and they went there and after two weeks they said they want to go home. And they said, "Why? With all this luxury in Japan and all that?" Said, "No. It's too hustle bustle." They loved the...

TI: Simple, slow life of Cuba.

MK: Of Cuba. And like this, in this one place where the, most of them are married to other nationalities, but they're Spanish, they're Spanish from Spain. It's not like the Mexican Spanish. So the kids are pretty blonde, blue eyes, but this one area, they all intermarried, so there's three families of almost solid Japanese. And then, and this is where they have three continuous farms, and they, and they have a little shed, what is Castro's vegetables and stuff Castro gets, and whatever is left over they can sell on this little shed like they have. And they're... so it's really a, this one Fukuoka people that were, a family there, they were fishermen. They were lobster fisher people. And so I was interpreting them, so when I went there and I said to them, "Oh my goodness sakes, you get to eat lobsters," I said. And they said, "No. We don't eat, we can't eat lobster. They're Castro's lobsters." And I said, "What do you mean?" Said their boat never hits the land. It hits the shed, where they put, they drop all the lobsters off. And I said, "Well, who's to know that you ate the lobster on the thing?" He said, "Somebody else would rat on you." And he said, "We like, we like the fisherman's life." Said, "We can catch fish and we can eat all the fish and everything, but we can't eat a lobster." And I'm thinking to myself, and then I said, "Well, can you, you can buy it." And they said, "No, you can't buy it. We can't afford it." They get two hundred and fifty pesos, and the, so they can't... it is really, really amazing. So I was laughing, I said, "Well then," I said, "You can have sashimi and all that." And said, "Yeah, but we have no wasabi or shoyu." So when I came home I went to Canada and I shipped a whole box of wasabi and shoyu. But I blame the Japanese embassy in Cuba. Why they don't help them or see them, see to that? This gal and her husband, they work at the embassy and you'd think... so I'm thinking to myself, but they are, but they have all the education they need. I had a bite over here and I was having, I had a bump on here. This young girl, looked like fifteen years old, she comes over, she presses and she goes, then she goes over and gets a swab of something. And I'm going, "Who are you?" She says, "Oh, I'm Doctor Takasaki," or something. And I'm looking, everybody's either a doctor or engineer. They all get three hundred and fifty pesos. Can you believe that?

TI: Interesting.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.