<Begin Segment 12>

[Translated from Japanese]

NM: What happened after Michael went back to the U.S.?

TF: I received a letter from him every day, and my mother figured there was nothing she could do to stop us.

NM: She gave you her approval. He came back to Japan, didn't he? How did he come back?

TF: Mike's family was also against the marriage, but mother's love trumps all. She protects her child when he faces rejection. Mother is strong. His mother sent a letter first, and his grandmother helped too. They wrote to someone in the military.

NM: They sent a letter to a military official.

TF: They said that their son received unfair treatment.

NM: He was sent back before his assignment was over.

TF: I used to have a letter signed by President Eisenhower. I lost it when I came over to the U.S. because we could not transport everything we owned. A high-ranking official sent an order to send him back to Japan.

NM: That's how it happened. Michael's mother and grandmother helped him to go back to Japan.

TF: Military regulations required a certain number of years to go back to a previously assigned positon for the second time. They didn't send you back to the same place right away. They could not send him back to Japan, but they could send him to the Okinawa jurisdiction. Okinawa was not a part of Japan. It was occupied and technically a foreign land. They had a radar facility in Okinoerabu and could send him over right away.

NM: It was occupied by the U.S., and he was allowed to be stationed there. How long was he in Virginia?

TF: I think it was two or three months.

NM: He was sent to Okinoerabu Island after that.

TF: That's right. [Laughs] I had never heard of the place. [Laughs]

NM: [Laughs] I see. Did he directly go to Okinoerabu Island when he returned?

TF: No, no. He came back to Tokyo. Everyone was sent to Tokyo to fly out to their final destination. He had a few days off and asked if he could leave the base. He didn't tell them he was going to Fukuoka. It is pretty far. He asked, and they had no idea what he was planning to do. They thought he was just going to walk around in the city and approved his request. He jumped on a plane to Itabashi. The flight was pretty frequent.

NM: Without telling anybody?

TF: They would not approve a request like that. You keep everything secret. [Laughs]

NM: He didn't want to be sent back to the States again. He went to Fukuoka without telling anybody. Did you know he was coming to Fukuoka?

TF: Well, let's see. No, no. I didn't know he was coming to Fukuoka. I just knew he was coming back to Japan.

NM: You heard he was to go to Okinawa, Okinoerabu Island rather, but you didn't know he was coming to Fukuoka.

TF: Not at all.

NM: Did he just come back out of blue?

TF: He did.

NM: What year was that?

TF: It was the end of 1957.

NM: He came all the way to Kasugamura?

TF: I was so surprised. I was amazed to see he remembered how to come back when I saw him coming up on a hill. I was up in a tree and saw him walking up. [Laughs]

NM: [Laughs] How come you were up in a tree?

TF: A persimmon tree had bagworms. They were eating leaves and hindering the fruit growth. I was picking them. Mike wrote in his book that I was pruning branches, but I was not. Bagworms.

NM: You were getting rid of bagworms.

TF: I picked them and put them in a sack. Their bags were very sturdy. You can make a small sack by patching them together.

NM: Do you cut up their small bags?

TF: You cut them open, sew them together and make a sack. I was planning to make some.

NM: That's why you were up on a tree. [Laughs]

TF: I used to sing, "Bagworm, come out. I'll give you a coin." You squeeze the bottom of the bag, the worm crawls out, and you save the bag.

NM: You spotted Michael walking up on the hill when you were on top of the tree.

TF: He walked like a duck. He was swinging his arms like this. Military walk, I guess. [Laughs] I saw someone walking like a duck and coming up. That was a real surprise.

NM: You reunited. Were you happy?

TF: I don't know. It wasn't expected.

NM: He finally came back. He didn't have a lot of days to spend in Kasugamura, did he?

TF: He didn't.

NM: He had to go back to Tokyo.

TF: Within three days.

NM: How did you spend those three days?

TF: My mother didn't speak any English. My younger sister was already married and left home. I lived with my mother, my elder sister and her husband, but the couple had their own schedule. It was very quiet, and he went back on the following day.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.