<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Did your father ever talk about his reasons for coming to the United States?

HT: Well, he had no choice. Being a Buddhist minister, they said, they told him that, "There's an opening in America, I want you to go to America." "Okay," he just said, yes and no. And he came to San Francisco, to main office, then they select what church he goes to, and you don't argue, you go. Nowadays little bit different, but before they said, Bishop said, "You go to this church," you go whether you like it or not. So he went to Walnut Grove, which he disliked, I believe, because we were there a very short time in Walnut Grove. And then he was very unhappy, so I think that's why maybe he went back to Japan to get transferred to some other church.

SF: Why did he, why was he unhappy at Walnut Grove? Why was your dad unhappy at Walnut Grove?

HT: I'm sorry?

SF: Why didn't your dad like Walnut Grove?

HT: I don't know. I guess it's the whole environment. He just... that town is strange town, you know. The Chinese on one, and Japanese on side of the street, and they don't ever talk to each other. And we can't walk through the Chinatown, we had to walk around it, you know. And maybe, maybe he had some kind of problem with his congregation, I don't know.

SF: How did you find Walnut Grove?

HT: Well, I had a good time. As a kid, it doesn't matter where you go, you could have fun. And I lost a couple of my best friend in Walnut Grove by accident. It was really an old western town. There was no sidewalk, actually. [Laughs] It's all wood, you know, and streets was all dirt. But my father is, he just, he just got tired, I don't know. But all I know is he said we're gonna go back.

TI: Now, Terry, you said that you lost a couple of your friends in Walnut Grove? Can you tell me about that?

HT: Yeah, well, one drowned in the river over there, and the other one is, we were playing out in the warehouse area and there's a lot of warehouse with the corrugated steel roof. We used to get up there and slide down that thing, you know. And one time there was about four or five of us and my brother. He was coming down this thing, and nobody noticed that there's a live wire going across, telephone wire or something. And nobody noticed it. But we just go down there and we just subconsciously duck. And this one person, he was talking, he's laughing, he was coming down, and boom. We saw big white smoke, and that was it. Next thing we know, there was a black thing hanging from the wire. It was sad, you know, to lose a friend. What a horrible thing. But I just forgot that, so I never talk about that, recall. I forgot everything.

TI: When that happened, do you remember what your father told you?

HT: I can't remember. I could imagine he beat the heck out of me for letting that happen, that I should be more responsible for friends. He always said, "Always look after your friends," you know. So I felt bad. I didn't know how to face the parents, of course, but I imagine they were mad at me, I don't know. Maybe just one of the reasons he just wanted to get away from Walnut Grove.

TI: Because in that group, were you one of the older boys?

HT: I was the second oldest. My brother was older than I am. And I got all the punishment, he didn't get too much. My father, I think, he favored him or something, but he can do no wrong. So I guess that's one of the reasons we left Walnut Grove. I didn't think about that. There wasn't much of a future there, for one thing. And it's a small town like that, some parents get mad at you, or get mad at your father, and he had no defense, you know. So maybe that's why he felt uncomfortable, maybe that's why he came back. He went back to Japan to go, reassignment.

TI: That's interesting.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.