<Begin Segment 9>

TI: And so going back to Marysville, your father didn't stay there that long either.

HT: About three years, I think. Three or four years.

TI: And then why did he leave Marysville?

HT: I don't know. Everybody liked him, they built a church for them and everything else. I think... the church is funny. They move people around, you know? And maybe he just wanted a bigger congregation maybe, I don't know. I never did pry into his problems. But all I know is he said, "We're gonna go back to Japan for a while. Then we took off, said goodbye everybody, had a big farewell party and went to Japan. And I don't remember all those things happened. And that's funny 'cause when I was three years old I remember all the stuff in Japan, coming over. But the last two time, I don't remember anything except we stopped in Hawaii. We had fun. [Laughs] But other than that... we stayed at my auntie's place in Kyoto. I don't remember too much of my childhood from there until I went to Salt Lake.

TI: Okay, so let's talk about Salt Lake. So about 1938 he comes back to...

HT: Yeah, that's late '38, I think.

TI: So he comes to, you're almost ten years old, I think.

HT: Yeah, I was going to the fourth grade or third grade, something.

TI: So he's then assigned to Salt Lake City.

HT: Yeah. That was good.

TI: So tell me about Salt Lake City. What was it like for you?

HT: Oh, man, that was... I grew up, let's see, I grew up here from fourth grade to graduated high school, then went to two or three school over there. And went to study commercial photography, then I got a license for that, then I went into commercial art.

TI: So you were in Salt Lake City for a lot of years.

HT: Yes, fifteen years.

TI: So let's go back, though, as a kid, you're about ten years old. Tell me what Salt Lake City was like back then.

HT: Well, I was surprised there were so many Japanese in the town. We had their own Japantown over there, we had Japan Center, Japanese town section, one block long, and noodle house and all that, all my friends' parents owned the stores, so you get along great. In high school, the worst time was I guess when the war broke out, 1941. We were getting along with everybody in school, then all of a sudden, everything turned around. And all your buddies used to be buddies, they would start calling you "Jap." But not the adults, it was the kids who are bad. Then there were some kids, they'd feel sorry for us and they used to take care of us American kids. Their parents would come down and help us out and take us, drive us home and all that to avoid trouble. I found later on that they were all Mormons. I guess that's their teaching. So they... it's a beautiful city.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.