<Begin Segment 16>

Mary I: Now, you ended up having another son when you came to Toronto.

Mitsu I: And then my wife and Dick came over, and then Arthur was born here. 51 Heath Street, he was born here. So I have two boys.

Mary I: And once you were settled in Toronto, did you associate much with other Japanese Canadians, or did you go to any centers?

Mitsu I: No, living on Heath Street, there were no Japanese families at all, so my boys played with a few Canadian boys that lived in the area, but I didn't associate with anybody. I only went to Buddhist Church once in a while. I was too busy working; I worked, about seven days a week I was working, 'til nine, ten o'clock at night. So I really had no time to go anywhere. Sometimes I used to go to church.

Mary I: What about for the boys? Did you push them at all to learn Japanese, go to Japanese school or do cultural activities? Were they...

Mitsu I: No, I really didn't push them to do anything. They made friends and they played tennis and badminton. Dick and Arthur, they both went to Brown School, and they were the only Orientals there. Then high school they went to Jarvis. When they went to Jarvis, lot of the people, students there were Chinese, so they made some, Chinese friends were their friends, Chinese friends. And there was one Japanese boy that they made friends with, but I didn't... in the summertime, we used to go to the Cultural Centre picnic or Buddhist Church picnic, but that was about all. We were too busy working.

Mary I: You're very involved now in the Japanese community.

Mitsu I: Yes, I go to Buddhist Church, I go to the Cultural Centre and other things that goes on.

Mary I: What's changed for you over time? Why have you become more involved now?

Mitsu I: Because I think I have more time. More time, and being, living in Japan for ten years, I guess I like to keep up the Japanese customs and things like that, so I go to the Cultural Centre a lot and all the bazaars and anything that goes on at the Cultural Centre. Movies, we used to go all the time.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2005 Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and Densho. All Rights Reserved.