<Begin Segment 22>

ES: This is one of the Japanese custom festivals, Obon odori, Japanese dances. The Buddhist group usually sponsors this dance.

WH: Remember any of the music?

ES: Yes, I do, but I wish I had known the title to that music, and I could have very well fit into it. But I didn't want to fit in the music that would not fit with their steps. That would be terrible.

WH: Was your family Buddhist?

ES: Part of it; we're mixed.

WH: Did even non-Buddhists do Obon odori?

ES: Oh, yeah. To learn the art and recreation. Just like the festival they have in San Jose Buddhist Church, people of all sorts of background now come in for practice, and they actually dance at the program. And it has no reflection as to what religion or what background.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Film Preservation Project. All Rights Reserved.