<Begin Segment 6>

MU: Okay, Tak, all during this time, how did you support yourself?

TM: I worked in an American family, for an American family. And after a little while I was able to drive, and so I drove for a doctor whose family I was staying with. And he used to make the rounds Saturday and Sunday and he didn't want to drive, so I drove for him. And during the week, if necessary, I drove for him. But during the week, I had to study so I didn't do much of it. And then in the meantime I learned how to cook, so I cooked for the missus. She appreciated it. [Laughs]

MU: Did you get better pay for it?

TM: A little raise, I guess. Then I was earning something like fifteen or twenty dollars a week.

MU: That was pretty good money, wasn't it?

TM: It was not bad. And you asked me how I supported myself. During the summer, like lot of other boys, I went to Alaska to work in salmon cannery. And for about two and a half, three months' work, we used to bring back about three hundred dollars.

MU: Big money.

TM: Net. It was a pretty good arrangement. And so I never had to look for money.

MU: Your uncle didn't have to help at all?

TM: Oh, no. No.

MU: You did that going through high school and the university?

TM: Yes.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.