<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Did you ever talk to your mother about her feelings about leaving Japan and going to America?

JU: Well, she was terribly excited, she wanted to come where they really did speak English. [Laughs] And she could teach even the Japanese immigrants from Japan, too. And she dedicated her life, really, to teaching them English in America. Because one of the problems they were having was immigrating and then doing something with the English language.

TI: So this was an issue that she knew was happening in America and that she felt that that could (do) something that she could really be helpful, probably especially with women.

JU: With women especially, yes. And children, because she thought she could be very useful. And then of course she was third-generation Christian, and so her father and grandfather and great-grandfather were really very evangelically inclined with regard to Christianity as well.

TI: Earlier you mentioned how your father went there to get acquainted with her. So was this a situation where he had to kind of woo her to marry him? Was this part of...

JU: Absolutely unorthodox. That's very, very strange.

TI: No, it actually is. We laugh about it, but in many cases, the marriages were arranged and there wasn't this courtship that went on.

JU: Well, and I'm not sure they would call it courtship in this case, because it was just whoever was in the circle of friends and neighbors that were, that were in Christian societies. That's part of the reason for them being relatively on the same page.

TI: And so I guess in the same way, I guess your father had to go meet her to make sure they were compatible in terms of their belief system.

JU: Now, seventy years later, we were talking with her sisters, we invited one of her sisters' daughters to come with us. And they had a few tales to tell about what this imposter was doing in their family.

TI: So what do you mean by that? I don't quite get it.

JU: Well, being as how they were very close sisters, they were discussing, "Who shall we let go with this guy?" [Laughs]

TI: I see.

JU: And, of course, she was the oldest, so she had first choice, I guess.

TI: Oh, interesting. And they kind of talked about that? That they had this man from America coming.

JU: Yeah, right.

TI: And he was looking for a wife.

JU: Looking for a wife, promised her a good life and so forth.

TI: Oh, interesting. Well, I'm going to come back later about your mother and father in terms of how they felt about things. But from there, they got married.

JU: And they marry in Western-style in Tokyo. I have some photos.

TI: Oh, we can look at them later. So married in Tokyo.

JU: In Tokyo.

TI: Western-style meaning a suit and white dress?

JU: Yes, and a wedding dress. And a Methodist service, ritual.

TI: And you have pictures of this wedding ceremony?

JU: I have pictures of them being married, yeah.

TI: Oh, interesting. Later on I want to see that, that would be interesting.

JU: Just the two of 'em, I'm afraid, so I don't know anybody else was there.

TI: But even just the two of them in Western garb.

JU: In Western garb was different, yes.

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