<Begin Segment 29>

LH: But there was an interesting, sort of an interesting event that happened right after your father's testimony.

MN: Yes. Yes. It was really fascinating. I was so pleased. There's only one Japanese American man on the commission of the commissioners and --

LH: And his name?

MN: Bill Marutani. And at the end of all the old folks making their things and I'm trying to -- I said, "Get me off the stage. Get me off the stage. I want to leave." There is question and answer period so I said okay. So the man says, "Mr. Takahashi, may I ask you a question? When you said you were a cannery foreman in Alaska, was that in Kodiak, Alaska?" And I'm thinking wow, he does a lot of research. How did he figure that out? And since my dad didn't hear us, I said may I answer question for him, please. I says, "Yes. It was in Kodiak," and I says, "Gee, I'm surprised that you would be so accurate in guessing that." And he says, "Oh, no. I want everyone here to know that in 1940, early 1940s, late 1939, Mr. Takahashi used to bring a bunch of college students to Alaska so they could make money over the summer for their tuition." And he says, "Mr. Takahashi used to go out of his way to help these young people," and he says, "I want everyone here to know that in 1941 I was one of those people." And I said oh, gee. And then I finally helped my father off the stage and went out to the lobby area. I was going to bring him home and Bill Marutani comes all the way down the stage and says, "Mr. Takahashi, may I shake your hand?" He says, "You're skinny now, but in 1940 weren't you big and fat?" He says, "Oh yeah. I was big and fat." [Laughs] It was a real nice... yeah, it was. Wow, what a small world. It is indeed a small world. You just never know how we're connected up. We're probably related and don't know it. [Laughs]

<End Segment 29> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.