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PF: Over the years you've been the historian, officially and unofficially, for the 442, but also for the Nisei military veterans in general, and to a certain degree, the larger story of Japanese Americans' experience during World War II. I guess what interested you or what made you so passionate about doing that all these years? It's clear that you are the go-to person, obviously, about a lot of these issues, especially dealing with Hawaii. So I was just curious how you came to be that historian for us.

TT: Well, basically I have a propensity or even a passion for history, to start with. If I have to point to a starting point, it could be 1977. The army, there was an Army Day ceremony at Fort DeRussy, and they asked me to speak about my wartime experience. And I told the story about being in the university ROTC and being, then serving in the Hawaii territorial guard and how we were, all the Niseis were discharged. In that first day of the Pearl Harbor attack, I told how the ROTC was called out to, the very first order was to be called out and the whole regiment of ROTC kids were marched to the bottom of St. Louis Heights to form a defense line to defend against Japanese paratroopers that had landed on top of St. Louis Heights. And we were, our orders were to prevent their advance to the city. All that, of course, turned out to be one of those many frantic hysterical rumors that were spreading around Honolulu on the day of the December 7th attack. But the University of Hawaii ROTC apparently was the only ROTC unit in the United States to be called to service in the war. And although the UH ROTC served only for about five or six hours at the most, mainly involved in defending St. Louis Heights, because that afternoon, the military governor converted the ROTC into the Hawaii Territorial Guard. So even the university ROTC, they were only in so-called "combat" for a matter of hours.

But for that effort, the ROTC, university ROTC, in 1977, was belatedly awarded a battle streamer for being the only ROTC unit in the U.S. to, in effect, go to war. And on that occasion, I was called to speak. And in the audience was Bud Smyser, the editor of the Star-Bulletin. He liked my speech, which, of course, traced the ROTC and the Hawaii Territorial Guard and the Varsity Victory Volunteers, which sort of formed the initiative or one of the factors that led to the decision to form the 442 and, of course, the MIS. So the year after that... also, he asked me for a copy of the speech. And then so the next year, in 1978, in the Star-Bulletin, the speech was printed. And I noticed that after that, I began to get called out to speak, and every time I speak, I write it out so that I have a written essay to go with it. I guess that's how I guess I acquired the repute of being a military historian.

But coupled with that, I was always interested in basically the history of the Japanese immigration to Hawaii. So the whole story that JCCH is, the reason they're in existence, they used to tell that same story, and I'm very interested in that. So all aspects of it. Currently I'm interested in trying to tell the story of the Nisei labor leaders who were pioneers, that people, very few people know about. People like Jack Kawano and people whose pictures and names are out there on the board there. But I'm interested in the history of the Japanese here in Hawaii.

PF: Have you recorded your own history and your family's histories?

TT: I'm starting to.

PF: Good. Where was your family from, originally?

TT: Well, you mean parents?

PF: Yeah. Your parents were Issei?

TT: Uh-huh. My parents were Issei. My father was what they called in Japan an Edokko, a native of old Tokyo. And so he was born in, there's an old section called Hachobori, and when you're born from there, then you're a real old-timer. So that's where my father was born. Somehow, though, and I don't know how his family afforded it, but they sent him to Keio, and so he's a graduate of Keio. But already here in Hawaii we had other relatives, the Isoshima family. So they called him to come to Hawaii and manage one of their stores. So that's how my father came to Hawaii. My mother's family was already in Hawaii. In the 1890s, my grandfather, Kagawa grandfather, was already here. And he did all kinds of things including a stint at raising pineapples out at Wahiawa. And his neighbor was James Dole, so he raised pineapples with James Dole. Unfortunately, James Dole became the successful pioneer of the sugar industry, but not my Grandfather Kagawa. Anyway, my mother was born (when) Grandma was (visiting) Japan, so my mother is technically an Issei because although she should have been, if she was born here, she would be a Nisei. But she was also educated in Japan, so she's... well, both my parents are bilingual. My father studied English night school when he was in Japan, and, of course, my mother came back to Hawaii and she's an alumni of Castle Kindergarten and Royal School. She's bilingual, bilingually educated.

PF: Your mother came back as a young child?

TT: Young, maybe baby. She should be a Nisei.

PF: What year was that? When was that?

TT: She was born in 1895. My father was born in 1890.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.