<Begin Segment 10>

[Translated from Japanese]

NM: So Michael was sent back to Virginia. How about your family? They knew you were engaged, didn't they?

TF: They sort of did.

NM: What was their reaction?

TF: They seemed to be okay with it as it was already done.

NM: You didn't face any strong disapproval.

TF: I didn't. I was different ever since I was a small child. They figured I would go my way without their support. My elder sister used to say I would come back to the village as a secretary of a highly ranked politician. Very few women were in politics in those days. That was how I was viewed by the people around me. They didn't worry about me.

NM: You were always trying to move forward.

TF: Somehow.

NM: Everyone expected you to take off and go somewhere.

TF: I think my father was a pupil at terakoya private neighborhood home schooling.

NM: Teraoya?

TF: Terakoya.

NM: Oh, terakoya.

TF: They didn't have schools a long time ago.

NM: No, they didn't.

TF: I think that was where he was educated. I always respected him. He didn't talk much, and I don't have any memories of my father holding me. I remember I was sitting on top of haystacks on a wagon. That's how we move them in the countryside. We were heading home at dawn, I fell and the wagon went over me. My father panicked, picked me up and went home. He was asking if I was breathing. That is all I remember. He didn't give me a hug or pat my head. I remember he scolded me.

NM: He was a man of few words.

TF: He was very quiet. My grandmother, grandfather rather, was involved in politics. He agreed to be a co-signer for people and lost a large part of his family land. My father quietly worked and got it back. He did not talk. He worked in the field and was very strong and well-built.

NM: He was a hardworking person.

TF: My father didn't say anything to me. My aunt attended the prefecture girls' school I attended. It wasn't a prefecture school back then though. My uncle also went to a school for educators. He was the top student when he graduated. He climbed Sefuri Mountain for a camping trip to celebrate his graduation, got heat stroke and passed away there. I think my father encouraged learning, but he gave up on his education and took over the family. He was the eldest son. My grandfather was not doing great and was gradually losing his family land. My father decided to take over and work hard.

NM: But he wanted to receive higher education.

TF: I think he did. He wanted to go to school. He sent his younger brother and sister to school.

NM: He did indeed.

TF: But his opinion was -- this is what I heard from my aunt -- he said women do not need education as it will make us too proud and argumentative. [Laughs]

NM: [Laughs] Is that what your father said?

TF: I guess he thought happiness for women was to stay home, marry someone at the right age and raise a family. When I told him I wanted to go to a girls' school, he told me women didn't need to be educated. He said I should take classes to be a good bride after graduation, find someone right for the family and get married. He initially didn't give me his permission to go to school. I took the entrance exam without telling him. I went to him and said, "Father, I passed the test. I'm going to school." [Laughs]

NM: [Laughs] You had been always that way. Once you make up your mind...

TF: Yes. [Laughs]

NM: ...you will do it. That was what everyone expected from you then. They accepted it when you told everyone that you were marrying an American soldier.

TF: There was nothing they could have done. They had given up on the idea of stopping me. My mother, though, asked me if I really wanted to do it. I was going far away across the ocean. She said if I needed any help, she would be able to help me if I'm in the country. She would not be able to if I'm far away. She asked me if I really wanted to go.

NM: Your mother must have been worried about you. It was not easy to go abroad in those days.

TF: It was not. She didn't know anything about the history either. She grew up in a countryside. My sister, though, knew a few people married to an American around the base. She knew what it was like. She knew me too and supported me.

NM: So you had a supporter. No one really spoke against the marriage.

TF: My uncle was against it. His wife's younger brother was killed in the war. They were still looking for him. They were hoping the brother might have escaped from the troop and was hiding somewhere in the area. They were asking around to find out if anyone had seen him. The uncle and aunt stopped contacting me.

NM: Americans were from the enemy nation for them.

TF: This uncle was highly ranked and the head of the family. He went to the school for educators with my uncle. My uncle was the top student, and he was the second. That's how he married my aunt. I have to say he looks like a toad. I was amazed to see my aunt marrying him. [Laughs] I am still amazed. [Laughs] He's got a funny face, somehow charming though. He was awarded for his work and regarded highly. Once he made a decision, no one could say anything against it. I was the only one who did. I told him I would expect him to have a better understanding as an educator. "How did you educate children during the war? You must have promoted wartime propaganda and told your students Japan would win the war. It's not like that anymore. As in the bible, 'Knock and the door will be opened to you.' The door will not be open without knocking. You have no right to close the door, I would like to knock."

NM: Did you say that to your uncle?

TF: Yes, I wrote it in a letter and sent it to him.

NM: You did.

TF: I saw the couple at a family function. We had not talked to each other for sixteen or seventeen years until then.

NM: [Laughs] I wonder if he had been upset for all those years.

TF: I think so. I didn't reach out either.

NM: The uncle was against the marriage, and Michael was sent back to the U.S.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.