<Begin Segment 21>

BF: Speaking of interesting experience and your ethnicity being an asset, you got to eat dinner with President Clinton.

TM: Oh.

BF: Tell me, tell me a little bit about that. That must have been something.

TM: Well, I think Clinton was probably more surprised than I was, I was sitting at his table. But --

BF: [Laughs] Why do you say --

TM: Well, first of all, when you go into the White House, which was a unique experience in itself, they give you a -- first of all, they announce you, and then they give you a card at the start. And my card table said 34. So I said, well, I heard there was about 350 people, so 34 must be almost the last table. So I just, during the reception, Clinton was about forty minutes late, so I was feeling good. And fortunately, there was a lot of Nikkeis that I've known through JACL and through the memorial. And they were from Washington, D.C. and New York and Hawaii and Los Angeles. And these were political leaders that I've gotten to know throughout the years. So we were having a great time, drinking, drinking more wine than I should and feeling pretty good. And then they, there's a huge tent, White House was a large, about a hundred yards away they put you on a bus, you get off. And so I'm kidding, I'm feeling good. And my date was Jane Nishida. And she has a table 32 or something. So they, they split. So I'm getting -- and these very, armed forces, maybe marine, army and WACs and all that, beautifully dressed. I mean, they're just handsome, young, bright. And so I'm kidding along. And I says, "Oh, gee, does this table mean I have to wash dishes or something?" Because I just thought I was really at the end. I mean, there's no reason why I should be anywhere close to the podium. And they said, "No, I don't think so, sir. You're sitting there." So I go over there, and I says, why is that podium doing next to me because I, it didn't even, no one told me, and it didn't dawn on me. So they said, "Sit there." So I sit there. And then I see the next sign to me was a Mrs. Obuchi. So I thought well, maybe that's the daughter. I didn't think it was Mrs., prime minister's wife. Anyway, I sat there. And they says, "Did you look the next?" So I looked, and it says, "President." So I'm kidding to them because I'm feeling good. I said, "President of who? President of what?" Because I really didn't think I would be sitting next, at the table of the president. I mean, there's no reason why I should be there. Anyway, we sat there. We had a nice time, nice talk. And then telling thing, why he's surprised is that next to President Clinton was Carter, that lady that plays Wonder Woman?

BF: Lynda Carter?

TM: Yeah. Very outspoken. Very, articulates well, spoke very, a lot. Next to her is Bob Matsui, who I know. So right off the bat I'm chit-chatting a little bit with Bob Matsui because we'd known each other. And then -- and they put two interpreters, one between myself and Mrs. Obuchi, and one between Mrs. Obuchi and Mr. Clinton, president. And so I'm trying to make small talk. And we got along pretty good because I know Mrs. Miki, who is a former prime minister's wife, who comes to Seattle. She must be in her eighties. But then I figure she, they knew each other. So we were talking about that. And then I'm speaking Japanese a little bit. And so the interpreter is trying to help us out. Finally, the lady said, "Well, you guys, you talk to each other." We're talking away. So we talked about Mrs. Miki. And then the funny thing we had in common was the, each of us, Mrs. Obuchi has three daughters and Clinton has one and we have one, so that was a one conversation. So I was ending up kind of translating for Mrs. Obuchi as we were talking to Bill. And he's a charming guy. I tell you, he's very charming. He looks you right in the eye. I could see why he gets into trouble. [Laughs] But anyway, he's charming. But telling point of why he was surprised is he gets up, and about five minutes after he gets to the table, he's very savvy. So he says, "Mrs. Obuchi," because she's the honored guest at that table, He says, "Mrs. Obuchi, I want to introduce you to the table." Points to me and says, "Oh, you met him already." Didn't know my name. He went around to the seven other people, knew everybody's first name.

BF: Oh, no. But he covered himself.

TM: Yeah. He says, "Oh, you've met him already." At the end, he came around, shook my hand, said, "Very nice to have dinner with you, sir." Probably thought I was an old man.

BF: So at that point, he still wasn't quite sure --

TM: Why I was there. The telling thing was, I heard later on that each counsel general's office, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, has to submit some names of Nikkei community people. So I was on that list. And when I accepted, I suspect -- and they won't tell me -- is that I know Ambassador Saito, not well, but they've been in Seattle, the Japan American Society event, been a speaker there. And when I was in Washington, D.C., for a couple meetings on the monument, I met him, been to his house. I suspect that they knew I spoke Japanese. But that's, that's just conjecture, and I don't know. But a wonderful evening.

BF: And they needed someone to sit next to the prime minister's wife?

TM: Well, maybe, and culturally or language-wise they probably said, "Well, why don't you let him sit next to Mrs. Obuchi because then they could talk." She was a wonderful lady. Very, raised, born, raised to be a diplomat's wife, you know.

BF: Very cultured, very poised.

TM: Yeah. But it was very fortunate that I knew Mrs. Miki -- I mean, know Mrs. Miki. And if you don't know about Mrs. Miki, I should tell you that story sometime in the future.

BF: Why? What did she --

TM: Well, Mrs. Miki -- Mr. Miki was a prime minister, was from the Isle of Shikoku, so when he was in United States right after college in the 1920s or '30s, he went to UCLA, but came to Seattle for a summer job. And Mr. Fuji, who used to run the Gyokokan Restaurant, took him in because they were from the same Shikoku island. And stayed in contact, not as very good friends, but stayed in contact. And when Mr. Miki was a prime minister very short time, maybe two, three years, but he was known as very leftist, very liberal. But anyway, he decided to send his wife, who's about my age, to Annie Wright in Tacoma. So they have a house in Tacoma. And they sent their daughter. And the daughter, in turn, sent her, yeah, three, but they sent two of their children to Annie Wright. So they have a lot of connection in Seattle. And actually, my brother's friend, Fish Okada, when he went to Japan, he worked for Mr., Prime Minister Miki, and so through that relation, the few times I went to Japan, I got to visit with Okada, Fish Okada, who your dad, mother knows very well. Got to meet the family. Not in a direct way, but... ways. And so, so Mrs. Miki used to come to Seattle frequently because they have a house in Tacoma. So Fish, frequently, I was invited. And I was asked to help them out. So we have a pretty good relation. Then her daughter, Kisako, lost her husband a few years back. And they were grooming the husband to run for the same seat that he started out in Shikoku. So they have a network, they built, rebuilt a house and everything. And then the husband passed away. So she decided to step up and run for congress. So she is a congressperson from the upper house, which is like our house of representatives, the weaker. So I haven't seen her. And she hasn't been here recently because she ran for that office, what, last June or something. But anyway, there was that relation. So I was able to talk to Mrs. Obuchi about Mrs. Miki and Mr., Kisako, and so that was enough of an icebreaker. So we had a very nice conversation.

BF: Was it sort of like switching gears for you to, to talk -- because I would assume talking to Mrs. Obuchi, you would, it'd be sort of different from talking to President Clinton. I don't know, they just very diametrically different.

TM: Actually, three ways. And then the person next to me, she was the wife of a US News and Report-type of a chief editor's wife or something.

BF: And then there's Wonder Woman?

TM: Yeah. Well, she was off on her own.

BF: Oh, okay.

TM: I didn't get to talk to her. But she was a wonderful, very interesting lady. So we spoke too. So in a way, I was talking to her, and all my best, well, whatever, American issues. And I was talking to Mrs. Obuchi about Japan and our daughters. And then Clinton was, we were talking mostly about Chelsea, I guess, saying that, and when Chelsea was home, he made it a point to have at least dinner with her three times a week or something, things like that, which was very touching, very interesting. But it was quite an experience. And I don't know what to say.

BF: It must be -- I mean, so you weren't, was it, was it the liquor? But you sound like you weren't nervous.

TM: No. I, like I -- and if they told me, I would have been. But by that time, we were really feeling -- it's just a very festive feeling. I mean, you feel secure. There's very well dressed, attractive, army and military personnel. It was just a wonderful feeling. And music in the background. Everybody dressed, and you just -- it was just a wonderful feeling.

BF: Do you ever, when you're, when you're in experiences like having experiences like that, and you travel around the world quite a bit and see amazing places, do you think about what your parents would think?

TM: Yeah. You know that they would be very proud. But getting back to the language thing, I'm fortunate that I have had experience to deal with like Mrs. Obuchi and dealing with people that speak Japanese and very little English. So it was, I felt comfortable, very comfortable. I wouldn't say very comfortable, but I felt comfortable that I had this experience, talking to like the Mrs. Miki and others throughout the years. And some of the people that we have dealt with in Japan, as an example, like the Yamasa shouyu people we've dealt with, once in a while when I go they will bring their wives out, which is rare, but I've had some opportunities where they felt I'm American, so they do bring their wives out, which is rare. So I've had opportunities to have dinner with business leaders' wives, which is somewhat unusual. But it's given me the experience to talk to them. I didn't feel uncomfortable talking to Mrs. Obuchi at all.

BF: Interesting.

TM: Yeah.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.