<Begin Segment 20>

MN: So you said you returned to California. Do you remember what year?

YY: Uh-uh.

MN: Do you remember how old you were?

YY: Hmm, about twenty maybe? I don't know, because we drove down. We went to New York and Chicago and just went around and came home to California. So Ojisan would say, "Now, watch that map, watch that map," I would keep falling asleep. [Laughs] He would get so mad.

MN: How did you feel about returning to California?

YY: I was kind of excited, I guess.

MN: So when you moved back to California, did you continue living with the Takahashis?

YY: Let me see, what did I do? Oh, they had an apartment. They had bought an apartment, and I used to live in the apartment, I think, until my brother went chick sexing, he said to go live with his wife and kids, so I did. And then pretty soon my father came back (from Japan) and we lived together, things like that.

MN: So the brother -- this is Masao?

YY: No, this is Takeo.

MN: Oh, Takeo went to chick sexing. And so you lived with him, not Masao?

YY: No.

MN: And then you didn't continue with the beauty...

YY: No, I didn't want to go take six hundred hours more (required for a California license), because I thought I'd better find a job first.

MN: So what did you do?

YY: There was a letter shop, I perforate letters on this machine, and it's for disc jockeys, make their little letters, thank the fan, and then I forged their (signature), 'cause I'm very good at forging their names. So I did, that was a little letter shop, I worked there for a long time.

MN: So then, I guess this is around the time your father returned. What was the reunion like?

YY: Well, it was kind of cute, he was in highwaters and a little Panama hat that was pretty worn, and he looked like a country bumpkin because he's a spiffy dresser. And I thought, "Oh, my gosh." But I had saved, I think, ninety-nine dollars, so I took him to a men's shop. In those days, I could get a suit and a hat for that price. So I got him a Panama hat and a suit, and he'd been happy. I was shocked when he came over, really, 'cause he's a snappy dresser. So he was happy, and then I'd take him to, on a streetcar, I paid the fare and take him to a show or take him out to eat. Just the opposite. I think he was happy.

MN: Now you also became friends with two very good writers, Wakako Yamauchi and Hisaye Yamamoto. How did you become friends with them?

YY: Let me see. Oh, I know, I went to a dance, that's where I met Jim, my husband, and then, of course, I started meeting his sister and Wakako. So I was, it was a long time, we just got, I think we were seeing each other about a year and a half, and Wakako and Chester and Saye. So he was living with Saye, Saye was living with him and a little boy, so we got to know each other well. So when I had the baby, Saye took care of me.

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