<Begin Segment 18>
SY: You mentioned -- we were talking about Henry and he's actually an Issei; is that right?
YM: He is an Issei.
SY: And so you were married to an Issei. You were raised with an Issei. Were you basically seeing mostly Issei people too?
YM: I think I saw more Issei people than Nisei at that, when... Yeah, I think so.
SY: What would you say you notice is the difference between Issei and Nisei and how people console you or how people communicate with you?
YM: Well, I think Issei -- the men folks, now, were the boss. Whatever they did was okay and so the wife has to listen, and I think that was, well, in a way a problem, but we did because most, some of my friends were married to Issei. Well, of course, behind their backs we might complain, but I notice a difference because a young fathers, they take care of the children. Henry never changed a diaper. That was beneath his... and he only carried Kako if she was good natured and she wasn't crying, but the minute she started crying, he says, "Here. Take her." And then another thing I noticed the difference is I think most of the young men take their girlfriends or their wives out to dinner when there's a big party going on, but in those days we had to stay home, and it was only the men that got invited.
SY: There's probably a bigger difference between Issei and men nowadays.
YM: Oh, yes.
SY: But what about Issei and Nisei, and not just men, but just men and woman. What would you say would be the different ways of communicating because in many ways you were in-between. You were like an Issei and a Nisei. So I would be curious to know what ways you noticed the difference of communication when you spoke with Isseis or when they spoke with you as opposed to Niseis.
YM: Well, I will say Henry was very charming because he was a photographer, and he knew how to speak and... but he was the boss. If he said it's this, even if it's black and it was white, if he said it's this, I had to say it's white.
SY: So his word was law.
YM: Yeah. His was law.
Yukiko M. Interview - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved. - <End Segment 18>