<Begin Segment 23>
TI: Okay, so this was all at the University of Minnesota when you were getting your master's degree.
SK: Uh-huh.
TI: So, what --
SK: No, I didn't -- I hate to say that, 'cause I didn't even stay there. I didn't even go to classes...
TI: Okay, so you weren't even there.
SK: Just maybe three weeks or so.
TI: And what happened? Why didn't you...
SK: Well, my father, after he came home, he was ill. And he said to go to school in California. He just, he was so ill that he needed someone to come help open up a shop.
TI: Back in Fresno...
SK: Yeah. Then that's when I quit to go home to help him, and I got a telegram that same day that he passed away. And I came back home, and I'm sort of stuck at home. But I did make some use out of my education.
TI: Oh, so this is -- so let me make sure I understand. So you came back to Fresno originally thinking that you would...
SK: Stay for a year or two.
TI: And attend school --
SK: Help him get started.
TI: -- maybe around there and help things get started. But because your father died, you --
SK: The same day I got the...
TI: Then the responsibility fell on your shoulders to take over the business.
SK: Right.
TI: And so you never went back to school because of that.
SK: No.
TI: I see. So tell me what business you took over. What, it was just the general merchandising store?
SK: Just general merchandise.
TI: And describe that. What was it like starting that up in Fresno, and what was Fresno like after the war?
SK: Well, I mean, we went to... I started the store in another, another part of town, I mean, another street, Kern Street, which is the same block as the church over there, too, just sort of guide you. I'm sure my wife, if she were here, she'd be angry for saying all these things. [Laughs]
TI: No, no, this is good.
JS: But it must have been quite a shock to come home, and your father had just died.
SK: Right.
JS: You didn't get to see him.
<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.