<Begin Segment 11>

TI: And how did it feel for you? I mean, when you go there, I mean, I remember when I went to... I mean, you grow up in the United States, right? Because we looked Japanese, people think, oh, you're Japanese. How did you feel when you went to Japan? Did you feel like you were Japanese when you were in Japan?

GN: It really felt like, felt like Japanese, but also an American, yeah, mostly American.

TI: And why do you say that? What made you feel like you were more American than Japanese?

GN: I guess it's the first time I went to Japan, it's just a new experience, different from the U.S. All those people, why did they come to see us? Who are we, right? We were just Boy Scouts.

TI: And were you guys in uniform? Did you guys...

GN: Oh, all the time, all the time. And summer uniform, short pants and short sleeve. Yeah, all these people were, and then we had a basketball tournament with the Japanese Boy Scouts.

TI: And how was that, how was the basketball?

GN: Different. They play a little different, they play like, they call it Olympic rules.

TI: Oh, so the way they check in the ball and stuff like that?

GN: They kind of had another extra step.

TI: They took an extra step?

GN: Yeah, like they're almost walking. We're standing here and saying, "How come he took another step?" It was unusual. We lost that game because everybody was just, we were just tired, we couldn't move, we're not used to that weather, I guess. Yeah, they're playing their friends, they come over here, drove, "They got an extra step over there, that's walking, right?"

TI: I know, because we're trained, right? At some point you kind of jump to defend them, they take one more step, they're right behind you.

GN: That was unusual. And then at one city, they invite each Scout to go to a family, spend the night with a family. I was able to go to a city named Takatsuki, and when I went there, oh my god, it wasn't a family, it was a big Boy Scouts church, just like the Konko church. There were Boy Scouts lined up just for me. I said, "Oh my gosh, I didn't know what to do."

TI: And it was just you, not...

GN: Just me. So wow, had to make a speech.

TI: And were you able to do the speech in Japanese?

GN: No, I did it in English. I couldn't do it in Japanese, right?

YN: So the other kids also had a kind of similar experience that they go to the other places and they are kind of also welcomed like that?

GN: No, they were just small families, they're in a house, they eat.

TI: They didn't have to make a speech? [Laughs]

GN: No. For me, it was, wow, what is this? And then they had Boy Scouts, too. And they had a lot of Girl Scouts, too. And then they assigned this Girl Scout to stay with me, to show me around. So we were supposed to, after, oh, we're supposed to write to each other, right? I couldn't write Japanese, so I never did write. All that, and then...

TI: Yeah, such an interesting experience, especially to go as a group. I mean, just the whole, going across on a military ship, and being welcomed that way.

GN: Yeah, we mixed in with the army guys in there, and they were telling us, "How old are you guys? You should be in the army."

TI: Well, so you did actually go into the army, didn't you? You had a couple years of...

GN: Yes, I did, that came after the trip to Japan.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.