<Begin Segment 17>

DG: So did your husband set up his practice right away?

NS: Yes. His office was -- he had to find an office; and, of course, there wasn't any place excepting in a building downtown. So he set up his office there until he found that he wanted to move into the district with more Oriental people.

DG: Because the office downtown wasn't convenient.

NS: Wasn't convenient, and he had to park his car in a garage and walk a couple blocks before he got to the office. Patients found it difficult because it was downtown and had to park and go to see him. So Dr. Nakamura had built an office building, and so we...

DG: He's a dentist.

NS: A dentist. So we rented the upstairs part for a few years. Then he found that the lot across the street was vacant so he bought that, and we built an office building there. So he practiced there until he died.

DG: So now right when you came back -- and this is 1945, early in '45, were there enough Japanese for him to have Japanese clients, totally?

NS: People were... yes. People were coming back by -- as soon as they could come and find a place to live, they were coming back. And so he found, he found, his practice was slow, but still he could practice. And the hospitals were generous. Like Providence said, "Well, we never took you off our rolls and so you're welcome to come back," with which he was very pleased.

DG: Do you remember the kind of problems that he dealt with at that time?

NS: Uh...

DG: The patients?

NS: With the patients? No. People came back and found -- a lot of people had their old houses, and they came back to their old houses and found new jobs.

DG: But what kind of illnesses were what he dealt with?

NS: Well...

DG: TB was no longer a problem?

NS: No. TB was not a problem as much. It was mostly, oh, minor problems, I guess: colds or fevers or cuts or bruises.

DG: Or pregnancies?

NS: Pregnancies and the usual.

DG: Because I know a lot of people that say that your husband delivered...

NS: Delivered them, yes. Well, he had a lot of OBs and so he delivered a lot of young people. [Laughs]

DG: I think a lot of Niseis waited to get married until after they...

NS: After the war. And so then a lot of them were right here and came back. So that was convenient.

DG: Well, did a lot of people get married in camp too, or did most of them wait?

NS: A lot of people did get married in camp, or they went to Twin Falls and got married, or they waited until they relocated. And then a lot of them went to Spokane and got married.

DG: Because camp was really kind of a meeting place, too, for young people.

NS: Spokane?

DG: Camp...

NS: Camp? Oh, yes.

DG: ...was a meeting place for...

NS: A lot of people met in camp and so then they got married.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.