<Begin Segment 10>

TI: Well, going back to Denver, when you were around ten or so, the church made a big move. I mean, went from being this smaller church parsonage to an actual church on Twenty-fifth and California. Can you describe how that happened and what that new church was?

JU: Well, there again, the Methodist church is very connectional. And the Germans, they suffered through the First World War, the German Americans, I should say. And, of course, they, just after that war, after the teens, they were very strong. The war had built them to be very strong, and then the peace afterwards. And they built a very nice church at Twenty-fifth and California, that's the place where they were. But by the '30s, that was, that was arranged by the conference that the German church that wanted to sell their church and move up to the suburbs where most of their people had gone, and who would take this older church? And of course it wasn't terribly old, actually. I think they were formed in the '70s and '80s in the 19th century. And so it was only about, maybe about fifty years old, and it was in good shape, still is. And so (...) the Methodist connectional system established it as a Japanese church. So we, the Japanese congregation had to give them (approval to) purchase it from the Germans. But there was a lot of good feeling between the Japanese and the Germans.

TI: And this was even before World War II that you had these...

JU: Right, just slightly before, about five years before the war. And they realized also that strange things were going on Germany in '35, '36. War wasn't exactly declared, but Germany was beginning to dominate the countries around.

TI: So it was kind of an interesting, where... what's the right word? It's almost like you have these facilities, but because of the connectiveness, it's just like when one group outgrows it or moves to another area, then they just, I'm guessing that they didn't charge too much for the property, but it was more because of the connectiveness...

JU: It's something we could have afforded, right. That's exactly right.

TI: And they can move on. So describe this new place. What was it like compared to, I'm guessing it's much larger and...

JU: Well, I think it seated about three hundred people in the sanctuary. And then when, and that's a great jump from a living room that was holding even fifty or seventy-five and then there was a parsonage connected to it, and the family... and actually, there were two buildings called the Terraces, and they were originally bought by the Germans, German Methodists, to house the sexton, the janitorial service, and the educational director. So there were two really livable homes.

TI: In addition to the parsonage.

JU: In addition to the parsonage. And the buildings are still there. What they've done is connected everything by hallways now. So the black church took over, and so use it for other things as well.

TI: And so was this a pretty big event for the Japanese community to go to a larger church?

JU: I think so, yes.

TI: And how did they open it up? Was there something celebratory?

JU: Oh, yes. The two celebratory figures from Japan came, Kagawa-sensei, you know, Toyohiko Kagawa.

TI: I've read about him.

JU: You've read about him. I've got good pictures of him. And Tamaki Uemura, now, that's a namesake. The name is the same, but she was from a different Uemura family. Uemura's a relatively common name in Japan.

TI: So let's first talk about Dr. Kagawa, and tell me a little bit about him and what did he do when he came to Denver?

JU: Well, just held a conference a couple of days usually. And he was traveling the United States once in a while, and that's how they knew they could get hold of him. He's, Kagawa-sensei, was a Princeton grad, Princeton Theological Seminary grad, and so he'd come back and visit Princeton once in a while. And (...) his ministry was primarily in Kobe, Japan, among the poor in Japan in the city of Kobe. And so he'd written a couple of things. And Mother, my mother was in touch with him regularly. I don't know quite... well, probably because of the historic connections. And so they asked him to come by and hold a conference, and he lectured a couple times.

TI: And at the conference, who would attend? Was it mostly Japanese or was it a larger audience?

JU: Well, he had considerable fame and recognition, recognizability in the Japanese community, so there was a good number. And I would say they probably filled the church. And with the surrounding area, not just the basic membership of the church, but also a lot of visitors.

TI: That must have been pretty impressive to have an event fill this building.

JU: It was. Very interesting. And the white congregations around town, of course, also knew of his work, and so they joined (...). Good festivals there.

TI: Do you have any personal memories of that day and what you thought?

JU: Got a big picture. [Laughs]

TI: What about just memories? Do you remember, like, what job you had that day, what you were supposed to do?

JU: I was just, I was just to wear a tie and not get involved. [Laughs]

TI: Behave yourself.

JU: Behave myself, yeah.

TI: You mentioned there were two celebratory events, so Dr. Kagawa and then Ms. Uemura?

JU: Yeah, Tamaki Uemura. She was an advocate for women's things in Japan. And very, very prominent lady. And she came a few months later, I can't remember when, it was about six months later, and they had another festival. Had as many festivals as possible. [Laughs]

TI: Good.

JU: When things are bad, have a festival.

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