<Begin Segment 14>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: I had only one, two... four teeth left in my mouth.

I1: Were they broken at the incident?

TY: It was all swollen for a month, and all my teeth were loose.

I2: Are they all implants?

TY: They are all artificial, customized.

I2: You came back to Japan after the war ended. Did you have dentures made in Tule Lake? Was it at the hospital in Tule Lake?

TY: They were made after returning to Japan. I asked the dentist in Santa Fe what I should do. The dentist said I wouldn't be able to do anything if I had the loose teeth pulled. I was told it would require a long time to have dentures made for me and it could not be done right away. I was told to live with the loose teeth until I go back to Japan to take care of them. I went to see a dentist as soon as I went back to Japan. The dentist glued the good teeth and the bad teeth together with gold. They were expensive but didn't last long. Japanese dentists at the time didn't know what they were doing.

I1: Even gold didn't solve the problem. [Laughs]

TY: I took my time to see a dentist while I was in Zushi and have it taken care of. I was on a liquid food diet for a long time, and it was hard.

I2: Do you know someone named Teiji Takebayashi in Zushi?

TY: Takebayashi?

I2: Mr. Takebayashi had been in the military after the war and recently retired. He had a number of jobs including working as an interpreter Yokosuka and Zushi. His currently lives in Ikeko, and a restaurant there is named Takebayashi House.

TY: I was young back them, in late teens to early twenties. Everyone besides the members of the youth group was older. I might have known the names but didn't have a lot to do with them.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright (c) 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.