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VY: So do you know how long they were there in Japan?

MM: Yeah, they were there about three years.

VY: Three years. So your mom was in Japan. Did you talk about what that was like to be living in Japan?

MM: Oh, yes. She talked about, she laughed at herself a lot. She said one time, "I want to be a good Japanese wife." So sitting at the table, there were all men and the women waited on them. She was the only woman at the table, but her husband had to translate. So they're getting to know and she was getting to know them. And she said, "I want to know, what do I call my husband?" So he said, "Blah, blah, blah," in Japanese, and she said, "Now, what does that mean?" "It means, 'My lord master.'" She said, "I am not going to say that." [Laughs] Which, of course, surprised everybody because they hadn't seen Japanese women refuse to say that. And so she was, she tried to be a good Japanese wife, but there were certain things that she didn't understand, or couldn't fathom. She did a lot of teaching of English as a second language, or she gave English classes, worked with other missionaries that were there, and tried to learn Japanese. And she would laugh at herself, she said, "One time I got on the trolley, and I went up and I was so proud of myself to say, 'Let me off at the next stop.'" And she said it in her best Japanese, and the whole trolley laughed. So she turns to her friend and she said, "What did I say?" She said, "Kill me at the next stop." [Laughs] So she laughs at all these little incidents that come up in her life and in her learning, because she always liked to learn, she asked so many questions. And she used that learning about Japan when she came back here to give talks on life in Japan to women's groups. And she was so fascinated, she took all her kimonos and all her children's books and showed how they worked, famous children's stories. And we had them in our house until there was a fire in the house and burned up all these clothes and items that you used for her telling about life in Japan.

VY: So your mom had kimonos. Were they specially made for her?

MM: My mother was five-ten and a half, and the standard kimono gets bunched up to fit the person, but they don't have five-ten and a half tall people. So she had to have her own futon, her own zoris, geta, everything had to be made to measure. That meant the design had to be made specially on the flowers because they rolled up like wallpaper. And when you wanted to roll them, you sewed the stitches up this way. So they have to have a bigger design or a design that doesn't fit the standard. And what was interesting, when I went to Japan, I have to tell you, I was going around the world and Japan was the last stop. So I thought, oh, a western country, I'll be able to get some pantyhose there and I'll go see my relatives. So I go the pantyhose, and they were big enough around, but the crotch was way down between the mid-knee and thigh. But you know, I walked a little step and didn't look too awkward, but it was very funny. And maybe five years later I was in Japan again, they had girls that were taller than I am. I was five-feet eight and a half. Five-feet eight inches and a half, and I was bigger than most people, but now, the girls and the boys were getting taller. And some of my cousins were six-foot-three, every time I went by they got taller and taller. So you know, the Japanese Americans in this country, the Nisei are three inches taller than the Issei. And that's sort of like what happened in Japan.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.