Densho Digital Archive
Twin Cities JACL Collection
Title: Ed Yoshikawa Interview
Narrator: Ed Yoshikawa
Interviewer: Steve Ozone
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Date: October 12, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-yed-01

[Ed. note: Correct spelling of certain names, words and terms used in this interview have not been verified.]

<Begin Segment 1>

SO: So today is October 12, 2009, I'm here with Ed Yoshikawa, my name is Steve Ozone, and Bill Kubota is the videographer. So let me just start, Ed, by asking you what was your given name and your birth date?

EY: Well, the given name was Edward Kiyoshi Yoshikawa. Edward Kiyoshi, and the word Kiyoshi means "pure, clean, immaculate," and it's hard living up to my name, but because I'm Christian, through Christ -- through God's eyes I may be able to live that life. Regardless, I was born back in Sacramento, California, January 30, 1925. Here in Minnesota quite often I get to be -- with the influx of Asians in Minneapolis I've been asked the question, "When did you come to this country?" and my answer has been I came to this country in Sacramento, California, January 30, 1925, which makes me over eighty-four years old. And they have a very questionable look in their face when I say that. [Laughs]

SO: Tell me about your parents.

EY: My parents, my dad, with three... came over to this country with my grandfather with three sons. And my father being the youngest of the three, when my grandfather came down with a stroke, his desire was to die in Japan. And since my dad was the youngest, he literally carried him on his back and went back to Japan. And after the death of my grandfather, all the friends recommended that he get married before he comes back to the USA. So back in about 1923 he married my mother and they arrived in 1924.

SO: And where were they from in Japan?

EY: My parents are from Kumamoto, Japan. Both my father and mother.

SO: What was your mother's name?

EY: Mother's name was Setsu Akahoshi.

SO: And your father?

EY: Tsunao Yoshikawa. I might mention here that my nephew, on his last trip to Japan, came back with a necklace with a mon, with the Yoshikawa mon on one side, and the Akahoshi mon on the other side. But I'm not a character that loves to wear necklace. [Laughs] So I have that at home now.

SO: What type of work did your father do?

EY: Well, he was a farmer back at home, back in Japan, but when they arrived in the USA, they were on a farm in the foothills of Sierra Nevada mountains, I believe it was in the area of Rockland, California. And they farmed, and one day my mother had me in a crib, outdoor, and my mother saw, she claims, a rattlesnake in the pen. So immediately she said, "No way. We're going to move into the city." And so that's how we ended up in Sacramento, and they started a small grocery store. So that's their livelihood.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 2>

SO: Did you have any siblings?

EY: Oh, yes. I had one brother and then...

SO: And what was his name?

EY: Luther. And I had three sisters, Sue, Edith, May and another brother Richard who passed away when he was only three years old. Then Judy and Tule, I believe she was the first girl born in Tule Lake so they named her Tule. And then the last one was Laura. So that's the family.

SO: And where are you in order, in the birth order?

EY: Pardon?

SO: Where are you in the birth order?

EY: Oh, I'm the number one son.

SO: Ah.

EY: Chonan.

SO: Which means?

EY: The eldest son.

SO: Okay. What was your father like when you were growing up?

EY: Well, typical father I would say, Japanese father, he didn't have much to say as far as our upbringing is concerned. It was my mother who disciplined us more than either, more than my dad.

SO: Was he working most of the time? Was he around a lot?

EY: Oh, yes, being a grocery store. However, I might add that to supplement the income, he distributed a Japanese newspaper that was being published in San Francisco and I helped him deliver the newspaper every evening. My dad and I would go out the railroad station, pick up the newspaper, and I'd get my bundle and I'd ride a bicycle and go around delivering the paper. Got to point where I was pretty efficient and the Japanese paper was very thin and I could ride and then flip the newspaper, downtown, and the paper would go down right under the door. Once in a while I'd miss but quite often it goes right through so I don't even have to stop. And then there was an area where I had to go out, and a wholesale dealer, a food wholesale dealer out in the edge of the town. And man, I was only about, what, fifteen, sixteen, those were very scary places to go so I'd go zip, zip, zip out. [Laughs]

SO: What was the Japanese community like in Sacramento?

EY: Well, the Japanese community consisted of the Buddhists, which is the largest group. And there's the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Baptist Church. Of course, there was a JACL and there were also the kenjinkai. Kenjinkai is a group of people who came from a certain district in Japan. For instance, my parents belonged to Kumamoto Kenjinkai. And there were groups such as Hiroshima Kenjinkai and what have you. Those are the groups that I'm aware of.

SO: Did they tend to stick together?

EY: Oh yes, every so often they would get together and have picnics, and I don't know what else my parents were involved with but...

<End Segment 2> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 3>

SO: What was a typical school day like?

EY: School days... I went to a school called Lincoln School which was only a few blocks away walking distance. And this school consisted I would say, approximately now, 45 percent Chinese, 40 percent Japanese and the other 15 percent Mexican, Indian, blacks. And so that's where I grew up. And in my junior high year I decided I'm going to run for the student body vice president, and sure enough, I got there. And the student body president was also a Nisei and one of my duties was whenever we had the assembly, I had to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. [Laughs] And that was my school, and then after graduating -- oh, one other thing. It may sound like I'm bragging but I was the first guy to receive the Block L letter. That's an achievement of a number of things, sports, intellectual and social activities. And to this day I wear my Block L vest to our reunions.

SO: That was junior high, right?

EY: Yes, that was junior high.

SO: Besides delivering newspapers, what were your chores around the house?

EY: Help at the store whenever I was needed, but I was pretty young so I didn't do much else.

SO: And were most of the customers Japanese?

EY: Yes, and Mexicans, Indians, minority group mostly.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 4>

SO: Can you talk about how the community changed after Pearl Harbor?

EY: Well, after Pearl Harbor things quieted down quite a bit and they did have what you called a curfew where we were not allowed to stay out late. However, we had a group of boys that used to play basketball, practice basketball, oh, once a week. And then after basketball practice we would stop in my dad's store, buy a pop, a soda pop, and go up to the third floor of the church and draw the blinds and play cards until 11 o'clock and then after that, we were a bunch of young kids and, "Say, Joe, you sneak out first. Hey, Tom, you go out, sneak out next." [Laughs] And that's the way we got around thinking, a little mysterious effect on the situation, it was a little fun thing, exciting.

SO: And once the evacuation started, what was the sequence of events?

EY: Well, my parents had to sell most of his, just about all of his grocery, and eventually they ended up with a co-op, people coming in, buying up the whole supply of grocery that we had at one-tenth of the cost. And then my mother would say, "We're going to have steak dinner tonight because this is the last time we're going to have steak." And so we had our steak dinner and then we packed up and went to an assembly center called Walerga.

SO: But before, what about your possessions?

EY: Oh, our possessions, we did have a washing machine and a few other things that we stored in the church basement which was right across the street. And the church is the Japanese Methodist Epworth Church we often called ME Kyokai, for Methodist Epworth Church. Anyway, we stored all our big items in the basement there. And all we can do is whatever we can carry is all we could take with us.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 5>

SO: So you went to the assembly center and that was in Walerga.

EY: Yes.

SO: What was that like?

EY: It was an old military establishment, I believe, it looks like an army camp, and since our family consisted of seven of us, we were allowed two sections. And we were surprised that we did get meat. They may call it steak but we did have steak dinner on a few occasions.

SO: And were you going to school there too?

EY: In the assembly center, no. We had no school, but I was still, I just had just completed junior in high school.

SO: And so what was a day like in the assembly center?

EY: I don't remember much of assembly center activities, no, nothing that I can cite. No, we had our regular church services and that's about it I guess.

SO: And then how long were you in there?

EY: Oh, just several months.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 6>

SO: And then you went to Tule Lake.

EY: Yes, and we boarded an old train with fringes on the window, and I remember we didn't know exactly where we were going. But at night I remember it was so uncomfortable sitting, you know, so there was a little rack up there on top. I crept up there and slept very comfortably on the rack. [Laughs] I'm surprised it didn't come down. But so we ended up in Tule Lake.

SO: And what's your first memory, is that your first memory of it?

EY: That's the only memory I have of that trip to Tule Lake.

SO: What about once you got to the camp?

EY: Well, we were, here again, since our family consists of seven and they assigned us two barracks, two rooms in the barrack and we ended up where we had nothing but community bathrooms, community showers, community mess hall, and we entered our two rooms, they were just as bare as can be. Somehow my parents were able to make it comfortable enough, so we survived.

SO: Tule Lake was known for having strikes. Do you recall anything about that?

EY: No, I was not involved in anything like that. I was having more fun really. [Laughs] I did work as a dishwasher in the mess hall and got paid, what, sixteen dollars a month for washing all the dishes. Other than that we... in camp there's a group of guys that got together and there was all... college kids who had a room by themselves. And some of us got together and more or less organized a group of young boys, and we called ourselves the Okole-house gang. I don't know whether you know what okole-house is.

SO: No.

EY: It's a Hawaiian term for outhouse. [Laughs] And this group of guys, I would say there used to be about twenty of us. I still have snapshots of the group. Nothing mischievous but we did get involved in basketball, football and a few other things. So all this took place before school started, I believe it was sometime in April when we got into camp, Tule Lake, and so I had the whole summer, and we got involved in high school fellowship group, church group, playing basketball, baseball and football. As a matter of fact, there was two groups, older group and the younger group. And since I was only about sixteen, seventeen, I was in the, we were in the younger group. And I remember, and I have clippings where I played center on our football team and after the season was over, I was elected almost unanimously as the All Star center for our team,

for our league.

SO: Was everybody, everybody was the same size weren't they?

EY: Pretty much so, yes, yes, yes.

SO: So in camp, living there was like being in, almost like as far as the school year, it was like Sacramento where you had summer vacation, and then you had the summer off and then school started in the fall.

EY: All right, as you may be aware of, when they started the school in camp, we did not have sufficient tables, chairs, and on occasion they had to recruit college students to teach, so we were starting the school year barely with anything, barely with supplies. And then since I was a senior in high school, we had to organize the student body, and as a result of that I got involved in running for the student body president of our Tri-State High, and we called it Tri-State High because basically it was from California, Oregon and Washington. And because most of the students were from Sacramento, I guess, I was elected student body president. And being the student body president I had lots of fun getting involved in all kinds of activities. One of the things that I had more fun was setting up the school paper we called the Tri-Stater. And what we did was we had a group of guys and gals that would spend all night assembling information and typing on mimeographed sheet different articles, and each individual would bring a little snack, whatever they could find from their home, and we would start working from, oh, I'd say about 7 o'clock until 2, 3 o'clock in the morning working on this paper. We would mimeograph all this paper and assemble it together. Oh, that was a fun time I could remember.

SO: Do you know where the machines came from?

EY: I have no idea. [Laughs] And then since we were organizing ourselves from scratch, we had all kinds of activities lined up. We had different groups, the thespians, the ping-pong club, the girls club, Hi-Y. If I can find my yearbook I could name all these different groups that they started.

SO: And then you would write stories about those...

EY: Yes, the activities that were taking place.

SO: So you were the editor, you must have written a lot of the stories too.

EY: I was not the editor, but I don't know what I was. But I did have my share of writing, a few articles here and there.

SO: Okay.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 7>

SO: And then you graduated in camp, right?

EY: Yes, we were the first class to graduate from Tule Lake camp. And since my parents did not have enough funds for me to continue my education, I decided, well, I would go out and work, save enough funds, so I ended up in Cleveland, Ohio. And there, looking for a job, there was an opening at the Bellefaire Jewish Orphan Home. So I went there and worked as a maintenance assistant. They provided meals and accommodations, and after that I would play basketball with the kids at the orphan home. And to make a long story short, I might say, they asked me to play with them and there were members of the Jewish Athletic Association, and everyone who played had to be of Jewish descent. But with my appearance they decided, "Well, we want you to play with us but we'll call you Ed Kauffman and tell them you're a Hawaiian Jew." [Laughs] So I played a whole season. And on one occasion I remember, we went out to play other orphan homes and the spectators were all, what, six, seven, eight year olds, lot of kids, and so happened I hit a few extra baskets and the kids came up to me and said, "Autograph please." [Laughs] That's the first time in my life I gave out an autograph. So these are some of my pleasant memories I have of this orphan home.

SO: How long are you there?

EY: I was there six months and saved enough money so that I could continue my education. And I ran into a couple of guys from Portland area that was going to Western Michigan State College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they said, "Ed, why don't you apply for that school?" So I said okay and I applied for the entrance at Western Michigan State. A strange thing happened, though, and that is I sent in my application and I got the reply saying that, "I'm sorry, your grades does not quite live up to our standards," or something to that effect. So I said, "That's strange." My grades were B average. So I wrote back to them trying to find out why. It turns out that, believe it or not, there is another Edward Yoshikawa from Stockton, California, applied for the same school at the same time. It's amazing.

SO: It is amazing.

EY: So after that correction was made I was able to enter Western Michigan State.

SO: And what did you study there?

EY: Oh, just general course. Liberal course, liberal art course, standard first year subjects, nothing special. And then after I completed the first semester I received a letter from, that I believe it was a draft notice, so I was given two months before reporting to... somewhere, anyway, so I went back to Topaz, Utah, where my parents had transferred from Tule Lake to Topaz, Utah.

SO: Do you know why they were transferred?

EY: Oh, there was a questionnaire that was presented, it's a famous questionnaire about, "Are you a loyal USA, or you have plans to go back to Japan?" And my parents said, "Yes, we are," so they were transferred out from Tule Lake to Topaz. And my uncle, one of my uncles, ended up in Heart Mountain. And my oldest uncle's family remained in Tule Lake. And my parents, when they moved to Topaz, my dad did not, was not able to find any decent job so he ended up digging ditches and as a result of that he contracted cold and tuberculosis. So he was interned at the hospital, and well, anyway, after school I went back to be with my family in Topaz. And there was another buddy of mine, a guy named George Sakita, he and I were on the same boat, and we had two months and we decided, "Let's do something." And we signed up for a job in Topaz and we, well, how about a job as reporter for the Topaz Times so we can get around to these places and meet girls? [Laughs] So we did this for just two months and from there I went into the service for basic training down in Camp Blanding, Florida.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 8>

SO: Did you volunteer for that?

EY: Pardon?

SO: Did you volunteer for that?

EY: No, I thought I was volunteering but I think I was drafted. And was assigned to basic training down in Camp Blanding, Florida, with all the other Niseis. So we were all Japanese American. One of the strangest things was there was a guy named Yamada and he didn't look any Oriental at all. He was Caucasian as can be, looking at him, but because his name was Yamada he was assigned to our basic training unit.

SO: What was it like in Florida as far as outside the base?

EY: Nothing unusual happened. We went through our basic training, and when it was completed I thought I would like to apply for the paratroopers. So I checked and found out I qualified, so there was a couple other guys that signed up for paratroopers, that means an extra fifty bucks salary, and I thought that was attractive to me. So I signed up and the rest of the guys took off for their two weeks' leave before going to the port of embarkation camp, which was in Fort Meade, Maryland. And I waited about a week, and the papers never came through, so I said, "Oh, you guys take off," that's when I left for Topaz again to spend two weeks there, and then I reported to Fort Meade, Maryland.

SO: And once you were in Maryland, what happened?

EY: [Laughs] One of the most important things in my life happened. That was on a weekend, some of my Hawaiian buddies said, "Hey Eddie, Ed, we met a girl you know in New York City. So let's go." I said nah. And then finally twisted my arm and I said, "Okay, I'll go." This girl I knew from camp lived in a YWCA, so we went there and I met her and it just so happened that this girl had a girlfriend and her name was Pearl Hirata. And she had missed school that day and even when Rosie went after her she said, "No, it's not right for me to go out, go down," and after the third call she finally came down and turned out to be the girl that I fell in love with more or less. But before this happened, maybe a strange thing, but when I was in Kalamazoo, Michigan, going to Western Michigan State, these two guys that I was rooming with was from Minidoka camp and they were getting monthly newspaper. And on one occasion I remember seeing a picture of the queen candidates for Minidoka camp and one of them was Pearl. And I looked at her and said, huh. Never in the world thinking I would meet ever her, but I do remember that. And then when I met her in New York City of all places, so we went out and had dinner, and I remember one thing. I love shrimp tempura and she wasn't too hungry so she had a few shrimp tempura left over. Guess what she did? She gave it to everybody else except me. [Laughs] So I never let her live that down.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 9>

SO: Did you want to talk about how you wanted to get married between age twenty-three...

EY: All right. When I was about sixteen years old, my prayer was, "Lord, I'm afraid of girls, but I would like to start dating when I'm a senior in high school and I want to get married between the age of twenty-three and twenty-five." So in camp, I saw this girl, her name was Terry, from a distance. And I said oh, it must be infatuation but I got interested in her and she was my first date. As a matter of fact, we dated on several occasions, on camp dances that used to take place over the weekend, and I even took her to our senior prom and eventually she ended up in Denver, Colorado, with her parents. And on my two weeks' leave before going to the port of embarkation I went to visit with my parents in Camp Topaz and on the way to Camp Meade, Florida -- excuse me, Maryland, Camp Meade, Maryland, I stopped in Denver and spent one day with her. And then when I got to Camp Meade, Fort Meade, Maryland, I said, "Hey, this isn't going to amount to anything," so I decided we'll call it quits. So I stop all communications with her and then that's when I met Pearl. And then having just met Pearl for one night, I needed some kind of an excuse to write to her. So after a month or two in Europe, an incident took place in New York City. I don't know how many of you might remember, but back in 1944 I believe or '45, the Empire State Building was hit by a small private plane. And I took that occasion to write to Pearl, I said, "Say, I read about the plane that hit the Empire State Building. Were you anywhere nearby?" And that's when we started corresponding. And lo and behold, this girl in Denver that I used to date, decided she was going to go to school, and of all places to go to she decided she would go to New York City, and of all the thousands of schools in New York City she ended up in the same school that Pearl was going to. It's called Traphagen Fashion School. Then one day she spotted, Pearl spotted Terry having lunch all by herself so she joined her and was having lunch. And then Pearl opened her purse and there was my letter saying "Ed Yoshikawa" right on the corner. And she spotted that and said, "Oh, do you know Ed?" She said, "Oh yeah, we write to each other." Immediately she closed it. [Laughs] So it's amazing how things have happened and out of the clear blue sky they meet, boom.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 10>

SO: And then talk about your army experience.

EY: Well, nothing too exciting. I went abroad with a group of Nisei that was to join the 442 as a replacement batch of men. So we ended up landing in La Havre, France, took the troop train all the way down to Marseilles, and as the 442 was coming off the southern France operation, oh, we were there in Marseilles for about a couple of weeks. And from there we took -- just because I was there, I was rewarded a battle star, not having seen any action, with the group. Anyway, we took an LST boat to Leghorn, Italy.

SO: What does LST stand for?

EY: It's a troop ship, small unit. Did not have any accommodations for, I don't remember whether they had sleeping quarters or not. But ended up in Leghorn, Italy, and we went, camped out there by, near Florence, Italy, and the entire group that left Camp Blanding, Florida, the basic training, had been quarantined with German measles. And we were all given shots but they needed some replacements, the 442 needed replacements. So there was a signup sheet that said all those who had measles in their childhood days, sign up. So literally, what they were asking for was volunteers to go up to the front line, so I persuaded my buddy George to sign up, 'cause, "You must have had German measles when you were a kid, I had it." So all right, we signed up, so the next morning we all lined up with all our gears ready, packed. Lined up to go and out of the 120 or more they said, "We have too many so we're going to have to drop off four of you." And they took four names, 1-2-3-4, not the tail end of the alphabet, not all the Yoshikawas the Yamadas or anything like that, and it just so happened that they picked my name out and I had to stay back. And my friend George went up to the front line. And a week later I found out that he was wounded and it worried me sick. And a week later after that I found out he survived without any problem, but he did have a scar on his neck. And many, many years later I went to a reunion in Seattle for my wife's class reunion of 1943 and '44, and lo and behold, George was there. And I so said, "George, where's your wife?" So I was introduced to his wife and the first thing I did was to apologize for the scar on his neck because I was more or less responsible.

SO: That's a good story. And then how much longer were you in Europe then?

EY: Well after VE Day, there was a sign-up sheet for men who knew Japanese and was being interviewed for transfer to the MI here in Fort Snelling. So I said, well, I have some Japanese knowledge, so I signed up. However, when my appointment time came I was involved in a poker game, which was a rare, rare occasion where I was winning. So I said, I can't leave, so I missed on the interview and missed my chance to come out to Fort Snelling. Anyway, after that, when we got our discharge notice, I said, well, I went to the clerk, said, "Rather than being discharged in California, do you think there's a way I can get discharged in New York so I can spend some time with Pearl?" He said, "Oh, yeah." He took my file and put it in with the New York bunch. And so I got my discharge out of New Jersey and I was able to spend a week in New York area. And Pearl had a friend, real close friend, and he had an apartment so I spent the one week with him. But another strange thing happened is that Pearl said, "Ed, Terry's getting married that weekend." I said, "Oh? Well, that's okay." [Laughs] So that's what happened and the we spent whole the week there and she was still going to school. And then I went back to Sacramento, California, and I spent about six months there.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 11>

SO: So your family had moved back to Sacramento?

EY: Oh, yes, and that's the one regret that I have is that my brother and I were not there to help move from Tule Lake to Topaz, from Topaz to California, Sacramento. And my dad had come down with tuberculosis so it was only my sisters that were to able to do, make this move. So that's one regret that I have for being involved in the military. But there's one thing too, my parents did not have, was not financially well off, so when I went into the service, part of my salary was sent to them and they continued on for two years, so that helped them tremendously. Anyway they were able to move back into the old accommodations, Fourth and O, the grocery store, and started the grocery store.

SO: Did someone save, how did that work? Somebody save it for them?

EY: Before evacuation, my parents wanted to buy the unit, which had the grocery store one level and the apartment building, apartments upstairs. Two stories, it's an older building, and since I was not of age, it required someone twenty-one or over before they can purchase any property. So they bought this, purchased this property under a name of an older Nisei, his last name was Osuga. And he returned to Japan, he had gone to Japan for education and the war broke out and the government took over the property. But during the war years it wasn't taken care of very well, it deteriorated to some extent. But when they came back to the same accommodation, they had to pay rent. Something that they purchased, and for many years they communicated with this fellow in Japan trying to transfer the title back. As a matter of fact, some of the Osuga family member went over there and tried to persuade him to sign and eventually he did turn the property over to my parents. But it took a lot of favors and money to do this.

So it's amazing, the grocery store is a small grocery store and we used to run around the store and when we get back there after we're adults, I said, "Oh my goodness, what a small area, how can we run around this place?" [Laughs] But it became for the Japanese community, it's one of the better-known place because there's a Buddhist church right across the street a little off the side where the community used to have Japanese movies there. And once a year they'd have Bon Odori, fall festival, where they would build a platform in the middle of the street and they would have taiko drummers and the girls would be dancing, the men too. And then here we are on the corner, so they would go there and buy pop, snow cones, popsicles and for occasions like that, or even for the movies, the Japanese movie shows, at this Buddhist kaikan, that's a gymnasium. So my parents even started what we call "chilly banana." "Chilly banana" is you put the banana on a stick, freeze it, you dip it in chocolate and we used to call it "chilly banana." That was one of the big item. And then also, my parents had enough foresight to take apples; you know, you see caramel apples quite often, that very common. Caramel apple. My parents did was put the stick on the apple and then dip it in candy, crispy candy, sugar, made out of sugar and some cinnamon flavor and whatnot, and it's coated in candy, not caramel. And we were known for that too. [Laughs] So when you bite into it it's crispy.

SO: Is the store still there?

EY: No. No, that area has been demolished and government buildings have been built on it. Even the church has been demolished, government buildings, apartments or whatnot. It's nothing like the old Sacramento that we grew up with.

SO: It's not a Japanese neighborhood anymore?

EY: No. No longer. But all of my sisters live in Sacramento. And my wife's one and only sister also lives in Sacramento. So we go out there every year and we drive all the way, to and from, every year. From way back in the days, the early '50s, those were the days where motels were scarce and didn't have any credit cards and we didn't have air conditioning, did not have cruise. [Laughs] But my parents really appreciated the effort we made.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 12>

SO: So you got discharged from the army, then what happened?

EY: As I said, I worked at the State Department for about six months saving enough money to go to school. And since I was familiar with...

SO: When you say State Department, what were you doing?

EY: California State Department, in the Motor Vehicle Department, just paperwork,

nothing special.

SO: In Sacramento?

EY: Yes, more or less a temporary thing. As a matter of fact, though, I do remember going out on a date in San Francisco. And we went to a dance, and lo and behold, this gal Terry who had married another GI was there. And she had her husband cut in on my date, so naturally I thought I'd better go over there and dance with her. And one of the first things I said was, "Well, Terry I'm glad it turned out the way it did, I'm glad for you." And she said, "Oh, I don't know about that." [Laughs] What a reply. Anyway. I wanted to, you know, I had met Pearl in New York, she was going to school in New York, we were still communicating and I wanted to get closer to her. And I ended up, so I went back to Cleveland, Ohio, and started working at the same Bellefaire Jewish orphan home. And this time I was the athletic director there and they had a swimming pool, they had a basketball court, and on weekends I would take the kids out to the Cleveland Indian ballgames, baseball games. It was a real nice job. Then I entered John Carroll University, which was only a few blocks away from Bellefaire. This was an all male college, university, Jewish, no, Catholic, Jesuit school, so I spent two years there. In the meantime I was commuting back to New York and back all the holidays, and then when she graduated from Traphagen fashion school she ended up at Minneapolis where her parents had relocated with the help of her uncle who was at Fort Snelling. And so she, after graduation, she transferred back to Minneapolis and I was commuting between Cleveland and Minneapolis, and finally we decided we're going to get married. And I asked my parents, that I found a girl I'd like to marry. And the first thing they asked me, more than anything else, where was her parents from? [Laughs] And I said, "Her mom is from Fukushima and her father is from Okayama." That was okay.

SO: And what made it okay?

EY: Well, evidently there are certain sections of Japan that is not considered... oh, I don't know how to explain it, but a normal class of people. There is such a group as -- I believe now -- ainu, and think they look down upon those people. And even Okinawans they kind of look down upon them, so they were concerned where the parents were from. Evidently, that's all I can assume. And as I said earlier, I prayed about I'd like to start dating as a senior and I'd like to get married between the age of twenty-three and twenty-five. Guess how old I was? Twenty-three. So the Lord must have had something to do with it. [Laughs] Anyway, she didn't have a... she was of Buddhist descent but she was not an active one. She didn't have any church here in the Twin Cities and I had a home church in Sacramento so we got married in Sacramento.

[Interruption]

SO: Oh, you were getting married.

EY: Oh, that's right. All right, we got married in my church that I grew up in in Sacramento, California, and I don't know whether I should mention this, but I suppose you can delete it out later. But a strange incident took place that I wasn't even aware of until many years later. See, Pearl's mother had a Nisei father but they separated before just before Pearl was born or shortly after. And so he was somewhere in California and at my wedding, our wedding, I heard that he was there at our wedding. Maybe Pearl can verify that, I'm not sure. But we got married in Sacramento and then went back to Minneapolis on a train, we rode on a train to and from back in those days, and like I said, I was twenty-three when we got married and since Pearl had a job at Donaldson in the advertising department, and she had an apartment and she had a good close friend that was the president of Augsburg College, so I ended up finishing up my last two years at Augsburg College. And got a degree, a BA degree in teaching mathematics with a minor in history. But being a first year man looking for a teaching job in the Twin Cities area was a no-no, you have to get some experience out in the boondocks somewhere in the country, Town. So I missed out on the first year and I started looking out for temporary work and eventually I ended up with a company called Strutwear that produced women's nylon hosiery and ladies' underwear, negligee whatnot. And I worked there as a sales correspondent. And then eventually they put in a IBM data processing so I was there, Supervisor, and then they decided they should move down to Clarksdale, Mississippi. What happened is that management thought that, oh, I don't know whether I should mention it, but back in those days, full fashion hosiery was the one with the line in the back, ladies', and then seamless came into popularity. But our management at Strutwear thought, ah this is just a passing fad, so they continued making full fashioned hosiery but that went down, down, down, so they closed up the shop and moved down to Mississippi so that left me without a job. So I started looking for a job and I went to Munsingwear, and Munsingwear had an opening in the data processing department, and so I had to take a cut in wage and swallow my pride and started working for Munsingwear in the data processing department. And no one there had a college degree, so I really had to swallow my pride. Anyway, it was a blessing in disguise when I started at Munsingwear.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 13>

EY: And as I said, we married in 1948 and our first child was a daughter born on August 12, 1949. And a question about what to name her, so we were debating what to call her, what to call her, and at that time we lived in a small apartment in the city where we had just one bedroom, one living room, and a small area where we considered it a kitchen. We had a little...

SO: Where was that?

EY: Huh?

SO: Where was that?

EY: 21 East 17th Street in Minneapolis. And we had to share bathrooms and that's the way we started, hardly any room. But in this bedroom there was a little heater, a radiator that said "Joy and Company." [Laughs] Oh, I like the word Joy, expressing happiness, "Let's name her Joy." So we named her Joy Pearl Yoshikawa.

SO: So she's named after a heater.

EY: [Laughs] Not the most glamorous thing. Well, and then the second child came and we decided to name her Candee, it's just a name we picked up, with a double E, not C-A-N-D-Y. And then to go along with Joy, happiness, we gave her a middle name Gay, but Gay is not a term that is very... well, anyway.

SO: It was fine back then.

EY: Yes. And then the third child came and the doctor came to me and said, "Mr. Yoshikawa, you have a fine healthy boy." Boy? Are you sure? I was so surprised, after two girls, you know. "Doc, are you sure it's a boy?" And the doctor says, "Oh, wait a minute," he goes back and checks. [Laughs] And he came back and says, "Yep, it's a boy." So what to call him? We named him Lance Edward. Lance was a name that some of the guys briefly called me Lance because I'm freelancing. So I said, "Hey, Lance is a very nice name." So those are our three children, they all live in the Twin Cities area. Yes. So we get, meet, get together quite often.

SO: And you were talking about your concern is that they were successful and happy. What about, so you didn't emphasize Japanese culture?

EY: No, we grew up in a community where very few Niseis were located, in the southwest part of Minneapolis, and I believe we moved out there primarily because our daughter was of school age, needed to go to school, so we found a home on 5517 Dupont Avenue South, and we purchased the home. And a few years later, we found out later that the real estate agent had made the rounds, neighboring rounds, getting their approval for a Nisei to move into a home. So I was surprised to hear that. Anyway there was a brand new school that was opening, Susan B. Anthony -- no, Kenny school, Kenny school, grade school, so our daughter was the first class there and she went through Kenny school and then Susan B. Anthony Junior High and Washburn and the University of Minnesota. But we were very active in our Baptist church and we were the only Nisei in this Baptist church. So our entire background is among the Caucasian group.

There were some JACL activities but we were so busy at our church that we didn't get too involved with the other Japanese groups. So pretty exclusively Caucasian friends. But the one connection there is that I was asked to, they had a Japanese American, JACL credit union they had started in the Twin Cities area, and the person that was the treasurer there had relocated to California or out west so they were looking for someone to take the treasurership and they asked me to take the... so I started and it was a non-paying job. And I continued as the credit union treasurer for fifty-one years until just a couple of years ago we finally merged with the national JACL credit union.

But our children, when they were young, we approached them when they were young, "Would you like to go to a Japanese school for the weekends?" There was a school available for them to go. "Nah, Dad, Mom, no, not interested in Japanese." So when they grew up they said, they signed up at the University of Minnesota night school to learn Japanese. [Laughs] But that was too difficult for them so they all dropped it. So they don't have much vocabulary in Japanese at all. We did have terms that we used: itadakimasu -- when you first eat, before you eat, and when you're all done eating you say gochisosama, so to this day they repeat those words every so often.

SO: Do they show interest in your upbringing as far as being in camp?

EY: Not too much. No, I have a lot of memorabilia about the camp life but they don't seem to show much interest in it. Maybe after we're gone they'll find it.

SO: Yeah, 'cause you were talking about that scrapbook...

EY: Oh, yes, I have a, maybe it's my self ego that made me put together different clippings from the camp paper, and I would underline my name whenever my name occurred, you know, and I clipped it and put it in this little scrapbook and then I also have these calling cards. When we graduated from high school we'd get a calling card, something similar to a business card, and we would distribute these among our friends. And I collected a handful and have them all pasted in the scrapbook with must be about forty, forty-five names, so I thought national JACL museum in Los Angeles might be interested in it, but I talked to one of my nephews who went to school down there and worked part-time at the National Museum and said, "Nah, Uncle Ed, they have all kinds of that. I don't think they'd be interested." So I said fine.

SO: So you were with the credit union for fifty-one years. How big was the Japanese community back then when you started working for the credit union?

EY: Oh, I would say in the state of Minnesota, maybe a thousand. But they were scattered about here and there, but basically they were all in the Twin Cities area and that was because of the establishment of Fort Snelling. Some of the families were relocated in the Twin Cities area and many of them had gone back to the West Coast but many also remained in the Twin Cities. So we have the strong group that has been active for, among the Niseis, Sanseis are the Twin Cities JACL, the JACL Credit Union, the Buddhist group, Nikkei, those are the four basic Japanese American group that has been active.

SO: So there's people you've known for over fifty years.

EY: Oh, yes, yes, many of them.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 14>

SO: And then back to Munsingwear, you were saying that kind of by default, you ended up the liaison between people in Japan and Munsingwear.

EY: When I started working at Munsingwear it was in the data processing department. And then, I believe it was about 1953, there was a group of Japanese interested in signing Munsingwear, as a licensing program with Munsingwear. And this Japanese group consisted of three major companies, C Itoh Trading Company Finances, Toyobo Knitting, and Descente Sales Organization. These three representatives came and negotiated with Munsingwear, and since I was the only one that spoke Japanese, although there was another fellow named Jim Katayama who was working there as a warehouse manager, he did not speak Japanese at all. So I got involved in this area and was asked to help entertain and take care of their Japanese needs. So when the negotiation was completed they were relieved, it was under much pressure, so on the way out to the airport I said, "Let's stop at our house for a little refreshment." So we stopped at our house and around the dining room table we served some hors d'oeuvres and a round of sake. And we said, "Let's kampai for the occasion," so we said kampai and took one. Right after that one drink they said, "Eddie-san, do you have any scotch?" [Laughs] So it happened that my father in law drank scotch so we had a bottle, and I took that out and started drinking, kampai-ing several times with scotch. And the guy said, "Eddie-san, one of these days you'll have to come to Japan. You have never been to Japan, no? You have to come." And after a few more drinks he says, "You and your wife will have to come." And then a few more drinks and it's time to go to the airport, the top man in that group, top management, he said, "Nah, Eddie-san, you stay home, just your wife come." [Laughs] So we took them to the airport and I found out later that they were flying to New York and this Kobayashi-san, the head man from this group from C Itoh, slept all the way to New York.

And the following years we have many visitors come from Japan, the representatives of these different companies. They would go to New York first. And they're pretty much on their own in New York City. Everybody's busy. So they would stop in Minneapolis, and when they arrived in Minneapolis these guys often said, "Anshin shimashita, anshin shimashita," that means, "Now I can relax and feel comfortable, Eddie-san's here, he'll take care of everything." So it was a fun occasion for me.

Anyway, I started working in the data processing and then someone in merchandising wanted my service so I moved out of data processing to merchandising. And I had several other jobs. I had one job in customer service department, and it's amazing, a name like Yoshikawa can do a job like a sales correspondent or customer service. Whenever there's an irate customer, I would get the phone. I request to call them. So I would call them, said, "This is Munsingwear calling, my name is Ed Yoshikawa." When I say Yoshikawa they all laugh. So immediately the term is a pretty good level.

SO: It's a good icebreaker then.

EY: Yes. From there I went into one might say production control with contract merchandise, merchandise that we had other companies produce for us, and that meant I would be traveling down south to different plants that produced garments that we ourselves did not make, like trousers and jackets, we were mainly knit house, T-shirts and golf shirts. So that took me out, and that even included some out places in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, so that all tied in with my relationship with the Japanese company.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 15>

SO: And you became involved with Campus Crusade for Christ in Munsingwear?

EY: Yes. Well, Campus Crusade in its origin, I believe it was originated here in Minnesota, and at that time each state adopted a country, different country. And Minnesota adopted Japan as their field of mission work. So being of Japanese descent, they asked me to get involved in it, so I served on the Campus Crusade board for about six years, seven years. And then other area was when I was at Munsingwear I got tied up with Minnesota Twins players. And I serviced them with passes to the employee stores and having, make up some special t-shirts for their giveaway occasions, Twins t-shirts, and the president of the Minnesota Twins, Calvin Griffith, was a huge man, and he was not able to find t-shirts in size XXXXL, four XL, and they would get in touch with me and I would provide the t-shirts and underwear for him. They appreciated it and on occasion they would help me set up a tailgate party for the Japanese when they came. We would have a tailgate party for the Japanese and then they would give us free passes to the ballgame. So that was appreciated very much. There were a lot of side benefits resulting from this.

SO: Who were some of the Minnesota Twins that you got to meet?

EY: Well, I got to meet Calvin Griffith, the president, I don't remember all the other, there was a guy named, can't think of his name...

SO: Rod Carew or Tony Oliva?

EY: Oh, yes, Tony Oliva. As a matter of fact, Harmon Killebrew. I was in New York City in one of my business trips, and walking through the aisle I ran into Harmon Killebrew. Harmon Killebrew said, "Ed, what are you doing here?" "Oh, Harmon, what a surprise." So Harmon Killebrew and a few others. We would, there was a guy in charge of the novelties section and he would give me a whole box full of this and that and I would pass that on to the Japanese guests. And I remember one time we were playing against Chicago, the Chicago White Sox manager sent up about a half dozen brand new baseballs because he noticed us watching the game with the Japanese. Like I said, the tailgate parties were terrific, and we would get down on the field before the game and they would take pictures of the Japanese, they just loved it. Loved it.

SO: And then you were also involved with -- speaking of athletics -- you were involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

EY: Yes, my ties with the Minnesota Twins extended towards a group called the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and they were interested in golf shirts for their fundraising golf outing. And on one occasion I said, "Hey, how about having one of those sublistatic printed slacks, colorful slacks?" And they bought the idea and we supplied them with all these fancy, colorful...

SO: Would you explain the type of slacks?

EY: Well, it's a slacks made out of what we called a sublistatic print. There was a method of printing fabric with different design. Some could be a floral design, or a graphic design of different colors. And it just so happened this was a new process, sublistatic print fabric was new and I had connections with contractors in St. Louis that I worked with, and I had this material sent to them and they made slacks and they used the slacks for a outing, golf, a fundraising thing, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Hawaii, and they would all go out there, wear the same slacks, and the minute they'd see another guy wearing the loud slacks they would start laughing at each other. And that created a fantastic atmosphere so there was a very joyful occasion in the golf outing. And we also had something more standard as a golf shirt with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and since I was involved with that they asked me to serve on their advisory board for about three years or so.

Working at Munsingwear had many, many benefits or very interesting and enjoyable experiences. One of my, one of the most fantastic occasions was when the Munsingwear Japan bought out the brand name, that meant that they did not need my service anymore. So they said, "Eddie-san, what can we do to help you find another job?" That was back in 1954 when I was about sixty years old. I said I was hoping I could work until I was sixty-two so I can start collecting on my Social Security, but the Lord knows what He's doing, so that's fine, and we parted on the best of terms. And when the Japanese heard that they felt a little guilty and they said, "Let's have you and Pearl come over and be our guests." So we traveled first class, and it's amazing, the first thing they did was take a picture of Pearl and I in the office, C. Itoh's office. Well, that's strange, oh, well. And then after, a few days later they had a reception for us, it's a standing cocktail dinner party, and there was representatives from C. Itoh, Descente and Toyobo, and in the background there was a huge picture, a caricature picture of Pearl and I. In the background is a golf course, and the top sign says "walking together on the golf course, or something like that, it said ,"Thank you very much," and it was a whole mural, more or less. And that evening they presented me with a painting, oil painting of an old farmer's house with a thatched roof in the countryside, and they said, "Eddie-san we thought about getting you a portable TV but we decided on this." And this picture is more precious to me than anything else because this picture, oil painting, was exactly like where my dad was born. Heavy thatched roof, farm surrounding, oh, and that was presented to us, and then they also took a picture of that mural on the wall and gave us a picture of it so that I have it framed at home so it's more manageable.

SO: That's great. Did you have photographs of your dad's home so you that knew what it looked like?

EY: We had visited it.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 16>

EY: You know, remember when I said that, "Eddie-san you and your wife have to come to Japan"? Well, after seven years later, the business was so successful...

SO: What year was that?

EY: Oh, about 1972, 1972, that was our first trip to Japan, and they, I don't know, this might sound unpatriotic, but when we got to Japan we stopped, landed in Tokyo, and the minute I touched the ground, strange as it might seem, I felt like I was back home. Sounds ridiculous. And so that was the first time, and then after, in 1994 they had us, Pearl and I as a guest. And then two years later, Munsingwear Japan called me up and said, "Eddie-san we've lost complete communication with Munsingwear USA, so can you help us out?" So I said, "Yeah, be glad to." And so make it official, so they said, "Yes, we'll pay you an annual salary, a nominal fee, and we'll call you a Munsingwear Japan liaison person. So that went on for nine more years. After nine years, the reason why it came to termination after nine years was because Munsingwear USA was purchased by a company called Supreme International in Miami, Florida. And so I couldn't very well be a liaison person up here in Minnesota, so when that took place they invited both Pearl and I again to Japan.

And this time we were the guest at a... see, once a year, Munsingwear Japan puts on a PGA golf tournament, sponsors a PGA golf tournament, this was taking place right out of Tokyo and we were housed in a special hotel and then they said, "Eddie-san, Tsutani-san the president of Descente, will come a pick you up, take you to the golf course." So, oh, okay, so we were out there waiting and Tsutani-san, president of the Descente company, not a huge fancy car, not necessarily a limousine, but in Japan, the VIP sits in the back. And so he was sitting in the back and when he arrived he sat in the front and he put us in the back seat and went to the golf course. And we were ushered into a special section where they were teeing off, the pros were teeing off. And with all the other VIPs, oh my goodness. And after that we were able to, they said, "You're on your own, go wherever and watch whatever you want to watch, and at lunchtime, come back here to the clubhouse, we're going to have lunch." And at lunchtime they presented us, oh I don't have my watch -- oh, yes, this watch was presented to both Pearl and I by, I think it's... I've got to put my glasses on. No, I guess not.

SO: It was engraved?

EY: Well, it was from the, this was a solar watch given to us given to us by NHK, national broadcasting Japan, anyway. Mine is still working. That was 1997. Over twelve years, still runs. So after that, well I've had a fantastic time, that's all I can say.

SO: Can you describe it as, when you were talking to the Japanese, you didn't describe it as speaking English, too, but you spoke some Japanese to them too, right?

EY: Yes. In Japan, it's amazing how much difference there is between a male and a female. Pearl does not like to go to Japan because she has to be on her best behavior and she has to watch her language, use of nice words among the ladies. For men, males, we can blurt out anything we want and get by with it. I remember one time we were walking through the streets of Osaka with the vice president of the company, we were walking through. And the next day they asked me, "What did you guys do?" "Oh, tada, koron koron." Koron koron is the word I used for walking down the streets. And they laughed and laughed. "Koron koron? No, koron koron means rock falling down, you know, rolling down. No, urouro, just casually walking, urouro." They get a big laugh from the terms I use. [Laughs]

SO: Because you learned from...

EY: My parents.

SO: Your parents.

EY: So quite often I tell these people, "Boku no Nihongo wa, katsudo shashin jidai no Nihongo desu kara gaman shite kudasai. In other words I say, "My Japanese is the Japanese of the silent movie days, so please be patient with me." [Laughs] But like they said, "Eddie-san, your Japanese on Sunday is maa -- by Saturday it gets pretty good."

<End Segment 16> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 17>

SO: So all those trips to Japan must have improved your Japanese quite a bit.

EY: Yes, yes. Well, along with these trips to Japan I also included side trips to Taiwan to communicate with some of the merchandise they were making for us and in Korea and Hong Kong, and then I would end up in Japan. In Japan they have a semi-annual fashion show, their new line of merchandise, and they would invite all the customers to come in. That took place twice a year for the spring and the winter line. And we would be invited to go there quite often along with an executive or two. And we observe the different booths -- see, the Munsingwear Japan product was far superior to the Munsingwear USA merchandise. Back in those days, Munsingwear Japan garments were sold at eighty bucks, ninety bucks, hundred dollars easy. Back in the States, its only twenty-five, thirty-five dollars. So the quality of merchandise far superior, and the brand name of Munsingwear in Japan meant a lot more.

The Japanese are so brand conscious that it worked out to our advantage. To see the penguin on the garments.

SO: Immediately they know what it is.

EY: Yes. And it's quality and expensive merchandise. So they were very successful and Munsingwear, the recipients of over 2 million dollars annually for what do you call it? Oh, I can't think of the word now, they were the recipient of... it was based on the percentage of sales. And, oh, what's the term I'm trying to think of?

SO: Franchise?

EY: Franchise, no, not franchise. Anyway, so all the more reason why they were very liberal with me. So whenever a Japanese came they would ask me, even when I was vacationing up in Portland, Oregon, said, "There's a guy coming down to Dallas, Texas, would you come down and help him?" And, "There's an executive from Renown that's coming to Minneapolis," and I was in California then. And I don't know if you are familiar with shiitake. Shiitake, it's a form of mushroom, very expensive, and they grew shiitake in Oregon and my sister, my wife's sister had just received a package of shiitake -- no, not shiitake, matsutake, excuse me. There's a world of difference between shiitake and matsutake, matsutake. So I brought that with me to the Minneapolis Athletic Club and had the chef prepare it in butter, slice it in butter, and just serve it to the Japanese because it's a real treat for them. Well, it turned out all the other executives from Munsingwear enjoyed it so much that they just got a few pieces that's all. But they would go very freely with me as far as expenses were concerned.

SO: Well, they had a lot of respect for you, your ability.

EY: Well, that's another story. A questionable thing. [Laughs]

SO: That's very interesting, your relationship with Japan. Is there anything else you can think of, that you want to talk about?

EY: Can I include a little funny incident that took place? There was a guy who was in charge of, who manufactures nylons, I mean, men's golf socks like this, with the penguin on it, and he was coming to the USA for the first time, so he was asking his buddies all about the trip to Munsingwear. And they said, "Well, first thing they ask you when you get on a plane, on a jet plane, they'll ask you what would you like to drink." So he kept that in his mind and he gets on the plane and the stewardess comes up and says, "Where are you going?" And he said, "Orange juice." "I said, no, where are you going?" "Orange juice." [Laughs] This is the same guy that came to our sales meeting and he was bored stiff. He didn't understand English at all. So I noticed that he was bored, so I said, "Yoshimura-san, let's go golfing." So he was a golf enthusiast, wow, he jumped right away, I took him out golfing. These are the little things that occur that they seem to appreciate a lot.

SO: All right, that's all I have. Those were great stories.

EY: I can't think of anything else.

SO: Okay.

EY: Enough said. I'm sorry I was so long-winded.

SO: No, that was fine.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.