<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So in thinking about this, I touched upon this earlier in terms of when you first met her, you didn't know how things were going to turn out, and in your memoir, the two of you not only teamed up in terms of your study, but later on you started a software startup where both of you worked together. How would you say, in terms of Tsuchino's influence on you, how did she change you? If you had not met her, and to where your career, your life went, what would you say?

MF: I would say, if I had not met Tsuchino, the odds I'd be sleeping under a highway someplace... because I basically wasn't... oh, I don't know, I'm trying to think of the proper term. I wasn't very disciplined when I met her. And basically I got to the point very quickly where I would do things that knew I would not normally do because I wanted to please her. Wanted to get her approval.

TI: So discipline is something that really, she helped you with.

MF: She says even today I don't have discipline. She says I spend money too recklessly and all this other stuff. And Tsuchino's very good at managing money.

TI: So the same question but from her perspective. How do you think you influenced her? How did her life change, because she met you and went on this journey with you?

MF: Wow. Just knowing her -- and I don't think she'd agree with that -- I would think... of course, in Japan, the marriages were arranged by family. And I would think that she would most likely have had a... I'm trying to use the right terms because it may get back to her. [Laughs] She would most likely had found being married to a Japanese gentleman very trying, because she's a pretty strong personality, and that generally, at that period of time, was not what was expected of a woman in Japan. They were expected to be, pretty much submit to what their husbands wanted. It's not that way now. So I think she most likely would have had a rocky relationship with any Japanese man because it just, her personality is strong enough that...

TI: So by marrying you, it sounded like she had...

MF: She had more freedom.

TI: ...more freedom.

MF: Yeah, she had freedom to do what she wanted?

TI: And how did manifest itself? When you say she had more freedom, what do you think she did with her life that maybe came out that wouldn't have come out otherwise?

MF: Wow, you've got some deep questions. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, these are the ones I like. [Laughs] But we have this great interview that kind of talks about your life with Tsuchino and how you came together, so it's a very unique life, and that's why these are interesting.

MF: Yeah, I'd have to think about that for a while. I think it allowed... her coming here to the States allowed her to blossom, she basically, she's so involved in stuff and things that she's involved in, this, they call it international marriage thing, and they don't use "war brides" because "war brides" in Japan basically has a very... "war bride" in Japan means "prostitute." So they call it international marriage, and I use the "war bride" term because it doesn't mean. I think it allowed her to go ahead and not have any restraints. And she kind of... even though we did things as a team, she'd kind of could direct where we were going. If she wanted it, she would get it. Then, of course, she had complete control of the finances. [Laughs]

TI: And from your memoirs, I'm not sure if she enjoys it, but you guys traveled a lot. I mean, not only around the United States, but Europe, you had a diplomatic assignment.

MF: Yeah, for a while.

TI: Were these things that she enjoyed?

MF: Yeah, but she says that, sometimes she says she thought she spent all her life packing and moving, you know. Because two years and we'd pack, you pack, unpack, you'd get settled in. You'd meet people and then you'd go ahead and you move again. And in a lot of ways, a civilian employee of the government is the same as the military because they would transfer you around. But the difference is, military person had no choice. I could have said, "No, I'm not leaving," but I would not have gotten any promotions. You basically stop there, because you travel, you move to your new assignment to get promoted.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.