<Begin Segment 22>

TI: So, Grace, I'm curious, when you think back, or think about your daughter, does she have any memories of World War II, the camp years? Your older daughter, does she remember --

KM: No, she passed away.

TI: Oh, she passed away. What happened to your daughter?

KM: Oh, she had lung cancer. So did my husband, cancer. Well, she did smoke, you know.

TI: Okay.

KM: But when she passed away, she was a good teacher, so they, all the whole school, they gathered and they had a bench, bench made in Fleishhacker Zoo, down in Fleishhacker Zoo in her name.

TI: That's nice. So, I'm at the end of my questions, and I'm wondering, is there any other sort of stories or memories that you have that maybe we haven't asked about that you'd like to share?

KM: I can't think of any.

JS: Do you have grandchildren?

KM: Yes.

JS: Yeah? Tell us about your, who your grandchildren are.

KM: I have eight grandchildren.

JS: And the oldest is how old?

KM: Oldest is forty, he's not married.

JS: Eight grandchildren. How old is the youngest?

KM: Youngest is, she's seventeen, because his second marriage. The oldest one is going to MIT in Massachusetts. She's going to college there, second year.

TI: So these are, do you have great-grandchildren?

KM: No.

TI: No great-grandchildren.

KM: No great-grandchildren, just grandchildren.

TI: Just grandchildren.

JS: So what do you hope that your grandchildren will know about their family history? Are they interested? Not sure?

KM: I talked to them, to one of 'em. She comes every week, and so I tell her little things.

JS: Good.

KM: Otherwise they will never know, huh?

TI: Well, and that's why we want to do these interviews, so we can capture as much as we can.

KM: Oh. Because these Sansei, Yonsei, they're not interested in Japanese culture anymore. That's a shame. Well, even the Niseis, I don't have too many students that want to continue on and be a teacher. It's a shame. But they, see, the parents are not interested, so how could the Sansei, Yonsei be interested? The Niseis, you know, the Niseis, they don't know, they can't speak Japanese, most of 'em. That's sad. I would tell these ladies, I said, "How did you communicate with your mother and father?" Broken English or just English. They never learned Japanese. Now, if you want to take Japanese flower arranging, you have to know Japanese, because we communicate with Japan. And odori, odori, it's going out. Nobody wants to take that, and even the koto, nobody's interested in that. My two daughters learned koto, but that's olden times. Sad.

JS: So your daughters studied koto, did they study ikebana, too?

KM: Yes, when they were younger.

JS: When they were younger.

KM: Before going, too much homework after high school. They all took ikebana, I taught them.

JS: Uh-huh. So they learned about Japanese culture, and did they teach that to their children?

KM: No.

JS: Not too much?

KM: They just don't have time, they go basketball. [Laughs] Mostly same.

TI: Good. Well, so Grace, thank you so much for taking the time to share your memories. It's been wonderful listening to all this. So thank you very much.

JS: Thank you.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.