<Begin Segment 10>

MN: Now, I want to ask you about your trip to Japan. What year did you visit Japan?

KM: The first time I went to Japan was when I was nine in 1929. I remember there was two main Japanese liners at that time, there was NYK and Osaka Shosen, there's the other one. But I think fare was cheaper for the Osaka Shosen. The fare was cheaper so we took that one, and that was from San Pedro, went directly to Yokohama. I think that NYK line used to stop off in Hawaii, and there was a little bigger ship, I think.

MN: Did your entire family go?

KM: Well, my mother took my sister and I, so my dad stayed home.

MN: What was the reason for the visit?

KM: Well, I think my mother wanted me to, for me to meet my grandmother, 'cause she was still alive at that time.

MN: So when your mother told you that you're gonna go to Japan, how did you feel?

KM: [Laughs] Oh, how did I feel? I didn't have anything. I just assumed that this was the thing to do. 'Cause I had no choice of that matter because of being only nine years old. You couldn't say you didn't want to go type of thing.

MN: Now on this trip on the Osaka Shosen, did you get seasick?

KM: Oh, yeah, I got seasick. In fact, I think everybody on the ship got seasick except for my sister and another man. They're the only ones that used to go up to the dining hall for the meals. [Laughs]

MN: Now what class did you ride in? First or second or third class?

KM: Oh, the steerage class, the lowest, because we were down at the bottom of the ship. And I think I was sleeping on a cot that was a triple decker or four decker. I was on the top of the deck, anyway, on the bed, so I used to have a yo-yo, and all during the trip that's all I was playing with.

MN: Now when you landed in Yokohama, what was your first impression of Japan?

KM: It's hard to say. I didn't have any opinion. It was finally, I think the biggest thing was I was glad to get my foot on the ground. I was seasick all during the time of the trip. so land felt real good.

MN: Now from Yokohama, how did you get to Nagano?

KM: Oh, I think it was, Nagano was, I guess my cousin or her relatives met us at Yokohama and took us, we had to take a train or something like that, probably, to Nagano.

MN: Do you have any memories of the train ride?

KM: No, not really.

MN: How long were you in Japan?

KM: Let's see, May, June, July, August... five months. We left in May, about a month before school was out, 'cause I think that boat ride to Yokohama is probably over twenty days, darn near three weeks to get to Japan, so you're spending most of your time on the ship to getting there. So I think it was about May that we left and came back in September.

MN: Now did you visit your mother's family or your father's family?

KM: Mostly my mother's family. We stayed with them where my mother was living. And so we stayed most of the time that we're there.

MN: Now I've heard stories when Niseis, when they went to Japan, they had problems with the water and would get sick. Did you get sick?

KM: Oh. No, I didn't get sick, but my sister, I remember she got some blisters or something, drinking the water there. But it didn't bother me.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.