<Begin Segment 24>

TI: And so shortly after that, or having your sisters come back, did the family have any discussions when they were back? Do you remember talking to them about what was going to be next in terms of should the family move out of camp or anything like that?

MI: I think they started, like Hiroko couldn't support Mom and Dad, Chuck and me in Chicago, so I think we should just stay put. And then Mary Jane at that time was going around with...

TI: Joe?

MI: Joe.

TI: Yeah, Joe Hashisaki.

MI: And then they got married on VJ Day. And then Hiroko helped her on that. Ish was still going to school, so we just kind of left it at that. What else could you do? And then Mom and Dad were kind of broke, real broke, supporting, giving money to Hiroko to go to Chicago and Mary Jane had to have pin money in St. Paul, and Ish had to have pin money, too.

TI: So earlier you mentioned, how was it that you came back to Seattle? You mentioned being the first family back to Seattle.

MI: Yeah, well, that was because of Father Tibesar.

TI: So tell me about how that came about.

MI: Well, he more or less... I don't know. One interesting story is the Sasaki family. He used to have a laundry before. And so he got him a job doing the laundry at this one place. And so the whole family went to Detroit. The Sasakis has four girls, Agnes, Teresa, Magdalene, and Bernadette. And the place that he was doing the laundry was a Catholic seminary where the young boys were being, learning to become priests. [Laughs] I don't know what happened. But anyway, Teresa said, "Oh, that was strange." [Laughs] I just laughed.

TI: They were there to be their temptation, I guess, to test their faith.

MI: And then he got a... I don't know, but anyway, Bishop Shaughnessy needed a cook, and kind of like a housekeeper. And so he hired us, and so we were the first family to come back to Seattle.

TI: So do you think Father Tibesar...

MI: He's the one that arranged it.

TI: Yeah, arranged it. Was it because, partly because of what happened to Bako?

MI: Yeah, I think a lot... I mean, he was trying to place all these families to different places. Like the Nakagawas went to Detroit, a lot of them went to L.A., and a lot of them went to Chicago. They never came back, though. Except Sasakis, part of them came back.

TI: And do you think your parents wanted to go back to Seattle?

MI: More or less. I mean, they didn't want to go anywhere else. And then at least they knew Seattle, so they were more comfortable with it. And then as long as they were able to get a job in Seattle right away.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.