<Begin Segment 22>

LH: So his, it sounds like you were fairly well off before the war, comfortable.

MN: Oh, yeah. Uh-huh.

LH: But then after the war, it was tough for him to get a business going.

MN: It was tough. We had a hard time. There was very little money in the house, but at the same time as poor as we were, Mom and Dad apparently very regularly sent stuff back to Japan.

LH: To...

MN: To help out the relatives in Japan, to his family. Her family, we didn't have much contact with, but did send warm clothing and food items and soap items. We used to send stuff back to Japan and I don't know. Gee, Mom and Dad had so very little to give, and they still found things to give. I admired that in them. That's when giving is really generous, when they have so little themselves and they still gave. And I guess that stayed with me that they were able to do that sometimes even at our expense, which I resented at one time in my life. He bought me a radio once that I was so proud of. I got a real radio all for myself, and then he had some friends come over and he came and asked me will I relinquish the radio and let him give it as a gift to his friend. I said yes, but I didn't want to part with that radio. [Laughs] And I don't know what it took for him to come up and ask me, but he had to give things away. He did. He did a lot of giving and in a way, I guess, I feel that way. I like to give things away, but I chuckle at myself. When I give things away, it's not like when Dad did. When he had so little and times were so tough and he still gave, and if I was in his shoes, I don't know if I'd be that generous. [Laughs]

LH: So even in times when it was hard for him to get going again after the war, he still found a way to be generous.

MN: A lot of sharing, yeah. And I never thought of that just as my father. My father was always impetus, but my mother always went along with it. And the whole community was always willing to do one extra thing to help each other. There was a lot more community.

LH: Than now?

MN: It's not me and mine, it's us. There was more of a -- survival meant that you have to look out for each other.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.