<Begin Segment 47>

DG: Let's just summarize. If you did things over, would you change anything?

KS: No, no. I can't. I can't say that. I, I've had a good husband and I've had a good family and fortunately, wonderful parents. So, I've been a very fortunate person.

DG: Toru?

TS: Well I have no complaints. [Laughs]

DG: Just a bit, I forgot about one thing. You told me a story at one of the breaks about the fact that you never had any drinks as a child and your father, you, you told us a story about your father hiding some booze in the haystack.

KS: Barn. [Laughs]

DG: Haystack and I asked you if you ever snuck anything and you said no.

TS: Well, it's just something in our family history. My parents were very devout Christians and also they participated in the national custom of having New Year's food, at which time they would invite friends to participate in a bite or two, and some, drink some sake. And I do recall finding out that my dad had stashed away gallons of homemade sake in the sawdust pile used to line the horse stalls in the barn. And I never said anything to my dad and he never said anything to me and I never had any inclination to sample it. I don't know why, maybe I should have. [Laughs] But I don't recall having a drink of intoxicating liquor until I was about twenty-five years old and living at the Japanese Students' Club and a roommate of mine, by the name of Senba from Tacoma would sneak in a pint bottle of gin which he finally talked me into taking a drink in the kitchen of the student's club house and that started me off to drinking. [Laughs] And drinking has been a part of my personal social life all my life. And I remember in particular Mr. Kubota, who ultimately served as president of the Japanese Community Service and I was the president of the Japanese Apartment and Association annual, was a multi-millionaire, but he was represented by attorney Bill Mimbu and because of my personal association with both the Community Service and Japanese Language School, of which he became president, I got to know him. And because I had moved from Ravenna Boulevard, our house for thirty-three years to my location now in this condo in 1991, I used to -- and I took the bus to my office. I used to walk from downtown Seattle where my office was to Mr. Kubota's office in the, on Main Street in the International District and he would always have bottles of scotch. Matter of fact, he had small bottles of one ounce containers of all kinds of drinks in one of these bookcases, and he must have had about 3,000 small bottles of booze. But he was careful not to drink or give out any of those, but he was very generous with his other liquor. And I remember I would drink and one time he told me that he would like to have me do some legal work for him. I told him nothing doing. He says, "Why?" I told him, "You're client of Bill Mimbu's and I have nothing to do with your change of any attorney's work in the first place. In the second place, I don't want to get into any arguments with you, because that's all you do anyway." And we would talk about different things and he was not much of a drinker. He, after half a drink, he would start to feel pretty good and in the meantime I'd finish about two or three drinks and pretty soon, he was getting kind of intoxicated and many, many times he would blurt out, he says, "I love you." [Laughs] I told him, "I don't know what you're talking about."

KS: Oh, but he did. He certainly had big affection for Toru. And Toru would always call me up and he says, "Come get me in about half an hour." And so I'd drive down there and pick him up. He never drove in this condition. [Laughs]

DG: But you had some good times with your friend Hattori too.

TS: Yes. Hattori and Terrence Toda and Min Tsubota. I'm afraid that I was quite a pickler. [Laughs] Fortunately...

DG: The one, the one reason I bring that up is that I have a number of people around me, relatives, who do drink. But the one thing that I notice is they all, knew when to quit somehow and be responsible.

KS: Yeah, none of them ever piled up their cars or...

DG: Right.

KS: Uhh.

DG: They knew how to do it responsibly.

KS: That's right. Now many times Frank Hattori would go to his car and he would sleep for a couple of hours and then he'd go home.

DG: Right.

KS: He never drove when he was... and I don't know how many times Toru would call me, "Come get me."

DG: Or, you know, they never skipped work.

KS: No, no.

DG: Or anything like...

KS: No, they never skipped work.

TS: Well I.

DG: It was neat that you could relax that way, you know.

TS: I do recall that each time I drank quite a bit, I would end up eating something and my friends, not very many people would, once they got to feeling real good, they didn't want to quit, quit drinking and they didn't want to eat. But as soon as I felt myself getting pretty good, I would somehow manage to eat. And I think perhaps that was my salvation. I'm still alive. [Laughs]

KS: Yeah, and he can still take a drink or two. Not very much, but.

TS: And Kubota, he would, after, for example a Japanese Language School or Community Service meeting, he says, "Well let's go over to bar, I buy a drink." And he would have his usual one and I'd have my usual two or three and sometimes he would go to his second drink and I, I'd talk him into leaving, but I can remember get, him getting into his car and I wait until he started his car and I followed him to his home on Beacon Avenue many, many times to keep him out of trouble. [Laughs]

KS: Sure.

DG: Again, an example of how you took care of each other.

TS: Yeah.

KS: That's right, that's right.

DG: And work together as a community.

KS: Oh, yes.

DG: Can you think of any other things that you want...?

TS: Well I suppose there's no end to...

DG: Right, so, thank you very much. That was great.

<End Segment 47> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.