<Begin Segment 7>

TI: And earlier you mentioned your father was involved with the church. Was it the same church?

KM: No. No, my father was involved at the Fresno Betsuin.

TI: Okay, so the Buddhist church.

KM: Fresno Buddhist church, yeah.

TI: And when you say "involved," what kind of activities did he do at the Betsuin?

KM: Oh, the Betsuin, wow, that was working... well, the one I remember was the Kishikusha, which is the building next to the church, they had students from Japan come to study in Fresno State. And they would stay at the Kishikusha on the third floor. And in front of the tennis court, there was a white building, and that's where they had their classes for English. So after they'd go to stay, well, they'd come back and study their English. And these young Japanese kids from Japan, when they had the leisure time, why, they had a lot of Chinese lottery in Chinatown. And some of the Fujinkai ladies seeing some of the young men going to the lottery places. The Chinese lottery, they had a front, they'd have a business in the front, and the gambling was done in the back room. And then, of course, they had runners to go to all the different restaurants and stores, then they'd have their drawing at a certain time. So some of the Fujinkai ladies observed some of the men, young men going to the lottery places. So they got concerned, so they told my mom about it, and my mom told my dad, my dad says, "Uh-oh, this doesn't sound good." So he went to see the reverend of the church, and he says, "What can we do about this? We don't want the young men to go to the gambling joints, and then when they go back to Japan and the parents would ask 'em, 'What did you learn in the United States?' 'Oh, we learned how to gamble.'" [Laughs] So my father said, "No, that's really not good reputation for the church, and also not good for the young men." So they started a young men's, kind of a Buddhist study class, and they called it the Byakudokai. And that was sixty-five years ago. The sensei formed it and got the young people together and they have... of course, they have religious lessons every night after school.

JS: So these Japanese that came to study, then they would return to Japan, or did they...

KM: Yeah. Well, yeah, most of 'em returned to Japan.

JS: So they came for a short period of time and returned?

KM: Right, right. I remember my dad was telling me that there was one fellow that came to the store and he used Dad's typewriter. He was going to Fresno State and make his reports all on the typewriter, and he used Pop's typewriters. Then he graduated Fresno State, went back to Japan, went back to Hiroshima, and then he ran for Senate, and he became a senator in the Diet. So he was there quite a while. And after the war, my grandpa in Japan had three, three different plots of property. Of course, he passed away in '37, so it was, my dad had the control of it. So he wrote the senator and told him to save whatever he can. And he saved the one that the family lived on. And he went back in '38... no... yeah, '38, he went back to Japan when Grandpa passed away, and he went to Tokyo to meet the senator and asked him, "What happened?" He says, "Yeah, I saved your plot, your family plot." He said, "Do not touch." So he saved the property. It was something that really paid off. You know, back then, if you didn't farm the land, they took it away from you. And the people that was farming the land, that was MacArthurs, they met the family that was farming the land, they got the land. That was after the war.

TI: Oh, interesting. So it was like squatter's rights, almost.

KM: Yeah, something like that, yeah, uh-huh.

JS: So did your father go back to Japan often?

KM: No, no, uh-uh. I think that's the only time he went back to Japan. Yeah, he had a business and had to raise a family, that's why he couldn't go back.

JS: So where was, for the cyclery, all the goods and supplies? That was all American suppliers?

KM: Oh, yeah, the suppliers? Oh, yeah, uh-huh. Except... no, Japan wasn't into the bicycle trade like it was.

JS: Not then?

KM: Yeah, before. Before the war? Yeah, before the war they were selling a lot of Japanese, made-in-Japan bicycles to the chain stores here in town.

JS: Oh, they started to?

KM: Yeah, uh-huh, they did. Yeah, they were cheap, too, just like China was doing now. Could buy a bicycle for $29.95.

JS: What kind of bikes did you sell at the store?

KM: We sold Schwinns and Columbia, the name brands.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2010 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.