<Begin Segment 20>

[Translated from Japanese]

NM: You were involved in a different group called Nikkei International Marriage Society.

TF: Nikkei International Marriage Society was founded by Kazuko Umezu Stout who lived in Elm. She had a stroke. This group started in Tacoma and asked our group to collaborate. That is how we started to work together shortly after. She got ill and took a break for a while. Two years passed, and everyone wanted to reactivate the group we had worked hard for. We renamed the group and started anew. It has been ten years.

NM: Has it?

TF: It's been going on, but we have fewer members now. Everyone has some health issues. Some of us are caretakers for our husbands. Others are no longer able to travel by themselves. We meet once a year, and a good year has thirty, thirty-five to forty members attending.

NM: Is this an international group?

TF: It is international. We used to have members in Australia and another one in England. Two members were in Canada. We are still keeping in touch by email. We don't have enough energy any more to get together though. The Convention of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad is held in Japan. We try to find out who is attending and try to get together while we are there. We update each other with news like Japanese yen is getting stronger or someone cannot make it at the last minute. We contact each other, and we actually got together once. I'm wondering what year it was. That was the 45th Convention of Nikkei and Japanese Abroad. That was when we had another reunion in Tokyo. That was the last time we saw each other.

NM: I see. You are still volunteering at the bunko aren't you?

TF: I still am volunteering at the bunko. I take it as my last volunteering position.

NM: Bunko is a Japanese...

TF: It is.

NM: ...library with Japanese books.

TF: It is like a library, and we used to have all sorts of books. We ran out of space and moved history books to the school library. It is not much of a library, but they have room for books. What we have now is children's books and other book for pleasure reading.

NM: You are still very active.

TF: Please come visit sometime.

NM: Thank you very much. [Laughs] It has been almost two hours...

TF: Has it?

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.