Densho Digital Repository - Susumu Nakanishi Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-496-8)

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BY: So then after you finished Doshisha, you came to the U.S. So can you tell us about that? When was it and how did you get here, why did you come?

SN: Yeah. As I said, at the Doshisha University, I lived with Reverend Young in the dormitory, so I could handle English conversation pretty well. And then one company in Japan invited Dr. Zettlemoyer, who is a printing ink expert. So I was selected as an interpreter. So, well, this is not a laughing matter, because in Japan, everything is University of Tokyo is number one, or other private school is not very good. So one company son of a president, selected to be interpreter. So he said, oh, naturally, Tokyo, there is a man from Tokyo University graduate, he studied at Harvard and just came back. So he should be our interpreter, but he's a liberal arts major, a law major. So subject was chemistry, so he couldn't handle it. So fortunately I was picked up for the interpreter. So that made the connection with the U.S.

BY: So then what happened after that? How did you end up in the U.S.?

SN: Well, Professor Zettlemoyer of Lehigh University made a lecture about one month tour of Japan, I was interpreter. So after he went back to U.S., he recommended, he gave me a scholarship to Lehigh. Well, it was a tough, only hundred dollar scholarship, so hard to live, you know. [Laughs] Paid thirty dollars for my room rent, but in any case, I could survive. And then, fortunately, during the... then I went to the summer camp and met the person whose uncle is professor of the University of Chicago, so he introduced me to the University of Chicago. And there was a [inaudible], heard that Dr. Charles Huggins was looking for a research assistant, so I just get the job.

BY: I want to talk about that, but I want to back up a little bit to when you first came to the U.S. I'd like to know, first of all, how did you get to the U.S. and what was that like, that trip from Japan where you have lived all your life, to the U.S.? Can you talk about that?

SN: Good point. [Laughs] Well, as I said, it was Lehigh, Dr. Zettlemoyer gave a lecture in Japan, and he went back to the U.S. and they offered me a scholarship. But at that time, one dollar is three hundred sixty yen or something. So some ladies, they want to introduce me to a lady in Hawaii, and they gave me a scholarship for transportation. So I came to the Lehigh, and then after... well, Lehigh is hard, really hard. But after summer camp, I got the job in the University of Chicago.

BY: Can you tell us about your journey from Japan to Lehigh? Like how long did it take, did you come by boat or train? Can you talk about that?

SN: I took the President Cleveland boat, ship from Yokohama, went to Honolulu, and then San Francisco. Took fifteen days. And then another train, three nights -- two nights, three days, to Chicago. So a real long, long trip.

BY: And then from Chicago to Lehigh, how long was that?

SN: Oh, I'm sorry, I must have... correct, came to U.S. by boat, San Francisco, and then I went way down to the train by New York, and then Lehigh is in Pennsylvania. So took twenty days or something.

BY: About three weeks. And as you were traveling on the steamship and on the train, and seeing the United States for the first time, tell me about what was going through your mind? What did you observe, or what were you thinking?

SN: Well, I was... let's see, surprised at everything. How the people live, and let's see. First went to Lehigh, and I had a hard time because my scholarship was not very much. So I have to pay hundred dollars for room rent, and then only a few dollars left for meals. So Reverend Broadhead, of the Methodist Church, helped me, so I could survive. And then I got the University of Chicago scholarship. But still, compared with the wartime Japan, living in U.S. was a luxury.