<Begin Segment 24>

TI: Well, so that's the end of my questions. Is there anything else that either one of you would like to talk about in terms of, maybe in terms of, is there anything that you've learned about life? Or when you think of your grandchildren or grand-nieces and nephews, anything that you would want them to know about, about life or values that you think are really important? Maybe something you learned from your mom or your dad? So I'll start with Eiko and then I'll finish up with Yoshiko.

EN: I'm not very much in storytelling. [Laughs] But I'm glad that my father had... there was a lot of Japanese families that came back from camp, they stayed at our, back of our house, we had sheds and barn, they stayed in there. There was quite a few in there, until they were able to get on their feet. And I was glad that my father let them stay there. And I hope they remember that. Because you have to share your living with other people, too.

TI: So that was very generous of your father. When people came back from camp, they had no place to stay, so he let them stay on the property until they could get back on their feet and do things. And when you say "quite a few," do you remember how many families or how many people were back there?

EN: Gee, I don't... four or five families?

YN: At least half a dozen.

TI: That's good. And Yoshiko, how about you? Anything that you'd want to say?

YN: Well, so proud of our parents, they worked so hard. You really learn to appreciate life. So they taught us that, I think, the way they raised us. Then they cared so much for the kids. The last day of our mother, I was with her and she said she worried for the youngest one because he wasn't married. Says, "How is he gonna survive?" So we had to comfort her and say that he'd be okay, he's grown up now. And Eiko's continually taking care of him, yet.

TI: But to her dying day, what you saw your mother, still being the mother, worrying about one of her children.

YN: Yes. That's amazing, isn't it?

TI: Yeah, that's really sweet.

YN: It kind of struck me about dying, you know, how precious it is to live.

TI: That's good. Thank you. Thank you both, this was fun. I learned a lot. It was fun just to have both of you two.

EN: Thank you for having us.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.