<Begin Segment 25>

DG: Tell me a little bit now about going to Japan.

MM: Yo.

AM: Japan.

MM: You wanted to go to Japan and she...

AM: Uh-huh.

MM: She...

AM: No, no, when the war ended my father says, "I will give you all a thousand dollars," or over something. And, "Because you all behaved so nicely." So I says, "Okay, I wanna go to Japan the first thing. If you hold the money you gonna give me." So...

DG: And you said this during camp?

AM: Yeah, uh-huh.

DG: Okay, but you were also preparing to go before camp.

AM: Pardon me?

MM: No. Yeah, no, she couldn't go to Japan.

AM: I couldn't.

DG: But you wanted to go.

AM: I wanted to go. I couldn't go right away. I didn't go until...

MM: After the war.

AM: After the war.

MM: After the war. Well, the war was still there. No, war was over when you actually went. By the time you went, the war was over.

AM: Yes.

DG: But when did you go?

AM: Because I saw MacArthur in Japan, Tokyo.

MM: When you saw him there but then the war was over there. So what month was it?

AM: Yeah.

MM: I remember Kay driving up to Vancouver to catch ano, the boat. One of the American Mail Lines...

AM: I had to take ano a freighter, I had to take rice, food and all sorts of things.

MM: All sorts of things.

AM: My bedding. I had a girlfriend, she was a missionary in Tokyo.

MM: Taul Watanabe's sister. You've heard of her.

DG: Right.

MM: (Taul).

AM: I went and stayed at Seiko's place. And had my first taste of Tokyo.

DG: Okay, now let's try to figure out when this was.

MM: After the war ended, yo.

AM: I don't...

DG: Winter? Fall?

MM: After. No.

DG: Summer?

MM: Harugoro datta ka ne?

AM: Ma, spring, I think.

MM: Spring, goro.

DG: Spring. So probably in '46.

AM: Yeah. I was on the freighter ship with pregnant cows. And telephone poles. That was, you know, the freighter. Uh-huh.

DG: Do you remember about how...

AM: Pregnant cows?

AI: Do you remember how long the trip was on the boat?

AM: Took about twelve... twelve to fourteen days, I think.

MM: And you said it was pretty rocky. So it's spring, datta ne? Natsu dattara, it'd be a bit smoother.

DG: Then you landed in where?

AM: Landed in Yokohama.

DG: Yokohama. So what did you see in Yokohama?

AM: Pardon me?

MM: What was your impression when you first landed in Yokohama?

AM: So I'm in Japan. [Laughs]

DG: What did you see?

AM: It's just... you're on a freighter, on the ship. So you don't see too much.

MM: No, no. After that.

DG: But when you went to Yokohama.

AM: Yokohama? Went to Tokyo naturally. And I met a group of Japanese...

MM: Church students.

AM: Church students.

MM: That's where, ano, Seiko Watanabe met her.

AM: I met Seiko there.

MM: Was it war-torn?

AM: Hmm?

MM: Was it war-torn? How was the building? Were there...?

AM: Wasn't ummm...

MM: It wasn't damaged?

AM: No. No.

DG: But... there were some evidence of war.

AM: Yeah. There's still evidence of people running into holes. If the bell sounded that the enemy was coming, and they all had to maybe run into holes.

MM: Dugouts.

DG: Oh, you mean in the shelters? The bomb shelters. So you stayed how long in Japan?

AM: At that time? Maybe about one or two years.

MM: She went back several times.

AM: And then back again, uh-huh.

DG: And did you buy...

AI: Excuse me, I was wondering if you could tell a little bit, when you first got to Japan, could the other Japanese tell that you were American? Could they tell that you were different?

AM: No.

AI: Did you have an accent?

AM: No. I got along well with everybody. No trouble.

DG: Occupation forces were there?

MM: Oh, yeah.

AM: There weren't many out there...

MM: You saw MacArthur.

AM: Yeah, saw MacArthur walking around there.

DG: Oh, you did.

AM: Uh-huh.

DG: Where was that?

AM: In, ano, Tokyo city.

DG: Is that right?

AM: He was a tall man walking up.

DG: And so was he just walking around the streets?

AM: Uh-huh, walking, uh-huh. Around.

MM: Maybe going to his office, to downtown Tokyo.

DG: So what did you think of Japan?

AM: Feel like? I'll always like Japan.

DG: And you bought some property there?

AM: Yes.

MM: She bought a house.

AM: I bought a house.

MM: And then she took flower arrangement lessons. What else?

AM: Cooking lessons.

MM: Oshuuji. And then what else?

AM: Cooking.

MM: Cooking.

AM: Cooking classes.

DG: You also did some business.

MM: Uh-huh.

AM: Uh-huh. Yes, I went down to Yokohama. Masa joined me later.

MM: Later on, each one of us took turns to go to visit and stay with her for awhile. So, I remember going and shipping all those things that we bought. We have to fill out invoices and she and I (were) busy typing away for them. [Laughs]

DG: What kind of things did you buy?

MM: Nihon mono, like kinu kigi, kimono and obi and things that you couldn't buy for awhile. No food, but just dry goods. Nihon no fans yara, anna yonamono.

DG: Why did you come back?

AM: What?

MM: Why you come back?

DG: Why'd you come back?

AM: I had to help to build business up further along. Because Father had passed away. (...) Eight days after we got back from camp, Father passed away.

MM: But we managed.

DG: So when you went to Japan, did you intend to stay there?

MM: No, not permanently.

AM: Not then, not the first time, no.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.