<Begin Segment 17>

SF: So would your guess be that maybe a lot of the businesses in this area might go away, or they might change, or, and just the churches and the Boy Scouts and the museum and Yu-Ai Kai and those kind of more socially-oriented organizations would stay, but the businesses would go away? Or do you think that maybe the restaurants will stay and they'll cater to more Japanese nationals and hakujins, or the whites, or how do you see that evolving? What would be your best guess?

GH: Well, I can see the change already; you can see that they're making a change. The old, old-timers may still own a lot of the business, I mean, the buildings and stuff, but very few are actively in the business itself. And simply, I guess, because of the, the kids have gone to school more, they're engineers or professional doctors or something, and they're not going to run a grocery store or a restaurant or a garage with a Ph.D. or you know, with a MD or a DDS or something. They're not going to be out there pumping gas or fixing cars. So I think the change is, it's inevitable.

SF: So say, take something like the Buddhist Church that you're really familiar with. How do you see the Buddhist Church changing in, say, ten or fifteen years? Will it get smaller, will the members change so there'll be a lot more white people, or how do you see that changing?

GH: Well, the ratio of intermarriage is like, I don't know, thirty percent. So are you gonna, if the, if the parent, whoever is Japanese, is strong enough to bring 'em to the Buddhist Church, then it will continue. But if it, if it's stronger on the husband or wife's side that say, is some other religion, then they won't be here other than maybe grocery, buying groceries or something different once in a while, you know.

SF: Right. So you'd expect that the Buddhist Church might slowly become smaller?

GH: No. Well, yeah, a little bit, but I think that, like, in Colorado or New York, they're still maintaining their -- they're dropping off a little bit -- but they're still maintaining a pretty good level. But then, of course, the participation is, or the congregation is fifty percent other nationalities and maybe, maybe some places even lower than that.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.