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TI: And so describe that. So when the bachelors came over, would they just go into, like, the dining room and drink or they're outside?
MI: Well, I mean, they'll help Mom.
TI: And then your mom would also make food for them also?
MI: Oh, yeah, she would always feed them.
TI: And you always say bachelors. So was there other families? Like just the husbands of other families?
MI: Well, New Year's was when you saw the different families. I mean, family people come for New Year's. but my mom would always have sake and food.
TI: So tell me about the bachelors. Where did they live?
MI: They lived in the hotels that are on...
TI: So more the International District, Chinatown area. And then they would kind of walk over to your place?
MI: I don't know they got there, but they got there.
TI: [Laughs] I didn't know this, it's a good story. Any memories from bachelors coming over? Like would they sometimes drink too much and sing loudly or anything like that?
MI: No. You know, most of the Isseis were alcoholics as far as I'm concerned. [Laughs] Because like Mr. Ikeda and my dad, they'll kill a fifth at every Thanksgiving or Easter or Christmas dinners. I mean, they don't eat, they kill the bottle.
TI: Yeah, I have memories of that.
MI: Yeah, you remember that.
TI: My grandfather --
MI: They didn't get drunk, but...
TI: Well, they got pretty drunk, too. [Laughs] Because they would, I remember your dad would sometimes just get up and start singing.
MI: Well, that would, utai, he had utai.
TI: Utai meaning...
MI: That's the singing. Like Mom went in for shigin, and my dad went in for utai. Do you remember utai?
TI: It's that form of singing, right?
MI: Yeah, form of singing.
TI: And he would, I remember at family parties -- we'll go into this more -- but I had lots of cousins, and so we'd have parties of thirty, forty people, and sometimes he would just, in the middle of it, just go up and start singing and we'd all have to stop and listen. But that's after, usually with my other grandfather, Dad's dad. They, like you said, had been drinking.
MI: They drank too much.
TI: So was that kind of similar before the war, people getting together and drinking, maybe singing like that?
MI: We were, my dad and mom were Kagoshima-ken, and you had a lot of Kagoshima-ken people in Seattle.
TI: So they were kind of like a hub for the Kagoshima-ken people?
MI: Well, I mean, most of them had hotels or something, you know, and then we had a house. It was easy to come over and drink and eat.
TI: I'm glad... you haven't told me these stories, these are good. I didn't know about so much the...
MI: But, too, they had their families, but of the group, I think they always said Mom was the best cook.
TI: And besides the coming over and the bachelors drinking and eating food, like New Year's Day, did your mom do a big spread for Oshogatsu?
MI: Yeah, they all came. Like Junks remembers his mom, after a certain time, "Go after your dad," and he'll go walk and meet his dad and bring him home.
TI: Oh, so this is on New Year's Day?
MI: New Year's Day.
TI: Where the men would go visit different places.
MI: All the different families.
TI: And in addition to the food, they would also be drinking?
MI: Oh, yeah, they drank too much.
TI: And so at some point you're saying that...
MI: Mothers would say, "Go after your dad and bring him home."
TI: And they would kind of know which families he would go visit, so you would have to kind of...
MI: So they go the other way. [Laughs]
TI: That's a good story. How about the Christian holidays? Things like Christmas, Thanksgiving...
MI: Well, see, to me, Dad and Mom were Catholics until they got in camp. And it was after Bako died that they got baptized.
TI: Oh, so before that, they weren't --
MI: Before, they weren't Catholic, but they sent us to Catholic schools.
TI: Okay, so they weren't really practicing, they didn't celebrate Easter?
MI: No, I mean, they were more Bukkyo. Most of the Japanese were Bukkyos.
<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.