<Begin Segment 16>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

VY: Backing up a little bit, when you got married, what did you do right afterwards? Like did you travel?

YY: We traveled right after we married.

VY: Where did you go?

YY: Well, he took me around the world. [Laughs] So for four months we traveled.

VY: Did any of those places stand out to you more than others?

YY: What was that?

VY: What countries did you go to?

YY: Well, we started in New York and (flew) to Portugal and Spain and (traveled through Europe, traveled south to Egypt to see the pyramids and ride the camels.)

VY: That's okay. I was just wondering if, was it unusual for people your age -- you were pretty young then -- to be traveling around that much?

YY: Not too many people were traveling at that time, but there were still some people either going home from an overseas job or... it was before a lot of the wars like Vietnam or Korea. It was way before that, so we were able to travel around without that kind of worry.

VY: Did you travel alone or in groups?

YY: No, we traveled on our own. I mean, Pan American at that time had an around the world ticket, and they gave you a year to use it, so you could stop wherever you wanted to, but we just had four months because we had to get back to work. And so we could change it as long as you're going in one direction, I mean, you can't go back, and they had certain rules like that.

VY: I see, to keep moving forward.

YY: You could go up and down as long as you're going forward, yeah, but you can't go back again, so you have to plan that.

VY: So this was the early '60s, the early 1960s.

YY: What?

VY: When you did this first round of traveling, it was in the 1960s.

YY: '62.

VY: '62? How do you feel like you were perceived by other people when you would travel? Did people see you as American, did it depend on what country you were in? Did you feel, like when you were in Vietnam, did you feel like you kind of blended in a little bit, or was it obvious that you were American and that sort of thing?

YY: Yeah, I think most people assumed we were from Japan. But there were others, I don't know, but I think that's the first impression.

VY: Okay, so you traveled. You got married, you went on your honeymoon and traveled for about four months and then you came back, and you ended up moving to Seattle for longer than you thought you were going to. During that time there was an earthquake.

YY: During that time what?

VY: There was an earthquake, right?

YY: Uh-huh.

VY: Do you want to talk about that?

YY: That was in 1974.

VY: Was it '74 or '64?

YY: Hmm?

VY: Was it '74 or '64?

YY: No, I brought you the book, and I found it was '74. So therefore he was working on that thing, but the reason we came back was because of the damage to the port from the earthquake.

VY: And why did they want him to come back? How was he involved?

YY: Well, because he designed one of the docks, and I think there were four. Three of them got damaged and (the) only one that survived (was the one he designed). Therefore they wanted him to be the project engineer for the repairs. And we were already back in New York. We just got back, and (he partners) were complaining because when we (left for WA), there were just (the) two of us, and when we came back, we had three children (plus their furniture, clothes, toys). [Laughs] They weren't too happy our going back again to Seattle.

VY: You mean his firm?

YY: We said we'll go and stay this time.

VY: So that was the big Alaska earthquake, it was very devastating. But during that earthquake, the one pier that he (designed) survived?

YY: Uh-huh.

VY: Interesting. Okay, so you came back to Seattle and then you went back to New York but not for very long, and then you came back to Seattle again. When you came back to Seattle a second time, that's when you stayed for good?

YY: When we came back, what?

VY: When you moved back to Seattle, the two of you and your family, the second time, you stayed here?

YY: Uh-huh.

VY: And you stayed here ever since. You never left.

YY: No, no.

VY: Tell me about your house. How did you find your house and...

YY: When we came back, we rented for a year, and we thought we would want to stay on the east side because the children were just getting ready to start school. And so that's when we found our house, and that was over fifty years ago.

VY: And the house, it's kind of interesting, the history of the area that your house is on, because it was a large plot of land. Was it like 12 acres?

YY: Yes. The people we bought it from, his parents gave him this land, and he made each plot an acre plot. And he built some of the houses, for instance, the house that we have now.

VY: And I understand it's in a very wooded area.

YY: Yes, and it has a stream in the back.

VY: And we recently had a pretty severe heat wave here in Seattle, but your house...

YY: Recently had a what?

VY: A heat wave.

YY: Oh, yes. Yes, we did, didn't we? [Laughs]

VY: But it sounds like your house did okay, it kept you cool because of the way it was built and planned.

YY: Yes, it did stay cool, but we still used a fan. [Laughs]

VY: Everybody did.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2021 Densho. All Rights Reserved.