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GN: So basketball was a lot for me, even when I was in the army, this is in, what... oh, we went before that now, we went, as a Boy Scout, we went to Japan, our troop went to Japan.

TI: Wow, that's a big trip.

GN: Yeah, and we got this special deal with the government to let us on a military ship, for us to travel with the soldiers.

TI: I'm sorry, military ship, this is a U.S.?

GN: U.S. They transport soldiers to Asia, right? So we were able to get on that ship, and it was like forty dollars round trip.

TI: So where did you...

GN: For one guy.

TI: So you took a ship from San Francisco to Japan?

GN: Right.

TI: Oh, that's really unusual.

GN: Yeah, it was about how many of us? It was a big group, and we took our drum and bugle with us, too, because Osaka was our sister city, and so they had a big deal for us when we got there.

TI: Oh, what a good idea. I never heard anything like that in Seattle, because Seattle was a major port with Bremerton, they could have done similar things.

GN: Oh, yeah. Like I said, our association was really good, they did all kinds of things. And got on a ship and, again, I got sick. But then after one day, get sick, get well, and it's nothing, it's okay. Then we got to Japan, wow, there was people waiting for us. We were like movie stars, people were waiting for us, and they wanted to see us, you know, I guess they'd never seen a Japanese American Boy Scout, it's the first time, it's the first.

YN: So how was the Japanese people's reaction to see the Japanese American kids?

GN: Oh, I guess they were curious, right? They were all there to see us and greet us, and then that was a big deal. Went to the hotel, big party, you know, Lion's Club of Japan or whatever, they were there, big party, and then we would travel to different cities, and we would go on a train. And when we got to our destination, my god, we got out of the train, there were people waiting for us. And all these girls would come out and they got flowers, all lined up, said, "Wow," we didn't know what's going on. Yeah, that was fantastic.

TI: And how old were you at this point?

GN: We were, what, eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old. I remember I was still going to City College.

TI: Boy, what an experience.

GN: Yeah.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.