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TI: So in the, so we're talking about the latter part of the '40s, '50s, I'm trying to think of how, so as people started getting back on their feet financially, how did the community rebuild itself?

MH: The churches played important roles. For the Presbyterian church, it was the Gay Yags, young people's group. And then for us, it was the golden age of YBA, Young Buddhists Association. We used to have our conferences in cities like San Jose and Fresno. George Takei won an oratorical contest, you know, in San Jose. I lost mine in Fresno. And we had choirs, Mrs. Iwanaga was, she was the minister's wife. The minister of Watsonville, Yoshio Iwanaga, he's, he came from Japan, I think Kumamoto-ken, went to Stockton, and then from Stockton was assigned to Watsonville in 1940. And so he is the one who is credited with introducing Obon to America. Anyway, he was our minister, but he died at age fifty in 1950. And Mrs. Iwanaga carries on the church with Fred Nitta. So six years, we didn't have a minister for the Buddhist temple. But the youth group was really strong, we had a choir, we had all kinds of activities, we had dances. We had dances all over, and we even had a YBA band. She had a, Mrs. Iwanaga had a band before the war, in camp, and after camp. So for our social outlet, we didn't, we participated in school sports, track, football, basketball, whatever. But for our social outlet, we were pretty much in our own group. We went to the prom, but we went to the prom with other Nihonjin gals, Japanese American gals. So we did participate in that capacity, and did well. So, but we didn't branch out with the Caucasian and other groups. That will be left to the children.

TI: Well, except for your brother branched out when he was in Minnesota. And so were there other exceptions like that, where a few...

MH: There might have been, there might have been.

TI: But in general, it wasn't, it wasn't very common.

MH: Well, Dick Tsuda was the only one, he was two years older than me, he had a motorcycle and the girls all flocked to him. [Laughs]

TI: [Laughs] Okay.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.