<Begin Segment 25>

MN: Let me ask you a little bit about Jun going back to right after the war years. I guess at Tule Lake, do you know if Jun, did she renounce her U.S. citizenship or was she just went over there as maybe "no-yes" or "yes-no"?

DM: From there, from Tule Lake there were, some were released that did not want to be, what do you call it?

MN: Go to Japan?

DM: Yeah.

MN: So she didn't go.

DM: No, she wanted to be released, so those were released and they went about their way. So she came back to Poston, when the war ended, she came to L.A. to look for a place.

MN: So she was able to go from Tule Lake back to Poston?

DM: Yes.

MN: It's not from Tule Lake to L.A.?

DM: She might have come to L.A. to find a place for the parents to come.

MN: Now she was working at the Board of Education, but then when did she go back to the Kashu?

DM: It was back in '46 when Mr. Fujii came back and reopened the shop.

MN: Did she continue working there after Mr. Sei Fujii passed away?

DM: Yeah. And his son-in-law took over, name of Hiro Ishiki. I can't remember what year the paper folded up, but it was probably, what, in the '60s or '70s.

MN: I think '80s.

DM: '80s? It went that far.

MN: I remember the Kashu growing up.

[Interruption]

DM: I remember the day they closed up, she had to write the payroll for the employees, and she ran out of money, company money, she couldn't pay everyone so she dug into her bank account to pay off the employees. And I guess she thought nothing of it, but when my younger sister Mey found out about it, she immediately sent Hiro a letter saying, "You owe Jun so much." And he reimbursed her. That's the kind of person she was.

MN: She was probably the longest-serving employee at the Kashu Mainichi, then, it sounds like.

DM: Sounded like to me, too, yeah. I can't remember what she did after the paper folded up.

MN: Now recently the U.S. government gave out gold medals to the Nisei veterans. Did you get one?

DM: I don't remember any gold medals.

MN: Congressional Gold Medal last year?

DM: Oh, that, yeah. I did order one, I got it.

MN: So you didn't go to Washington, D.C.?

DM: No. I got it through the mail.

MN: How did you feel when you found out the U.S. government was recognizing the Nisei veterans.

DM: All I remember is the $20,000 they gave us, which I immediately spent buying a Chevy Blazer.

MN: Okay, Mr. Maruya. You know, I've asked all my questions. Is there anything else you want to add?

DM: Huh?

AK: I wanted to ask you about your woodworking, if you started doing that woodworking in Poston?

DM: No. After I retired, I had to have some hobby, so woodworking interested me, so I went and bought a twelve-inch wood lathe from Sears. With that wood lathe I started learning how to make bowls. So those samples you see here, and from there I turned into other wood items like cutting boards and trays, candleholders. Things like that I made, and participated in the Torrance senior craft sale, which was held once a year, which I went there and I sold my products. I did pretty well. Let's see, I was into woodworking 'til about two, three years ago. I quit when I realized that I still had ten fingers on my hand, so I thought I'd better quit. I haven't done much woodworking since, just small objects that I could make in the garage.

MN: You did some pretty intricate work, because that table right there, you did all that inlay.

DM: That's one of 'em.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.