<Begin Segment 5>

RP: Your father died at a very young age, in an accident.

SK: Forty-two. In Japan, forty-two means death, that, it's just the way they say it, shijuuni, shini. Four, forty-two. So it's one of those things that people have, forty-two years, but that's the year that they, especially the men, they want to be careful. Forty-two means death. And that's, he died in February. He was going back to Japan in April, first time in ten years, so he had all the gifts all ready to go back. But he passed on in April, in February, right in front of Mrs. Scripps' home.

RP: What happened?

SK: This fellow was a black fellow, and I guess he was half drunk. The car was weaving going up the hill there, and I, my father's standing to cross the street 'cause he parked across the street. So somehow the car caught him and dragged him sixty foot. You know, to this day, for the longest day I should say, I saw that big pool of blood right there in front of... yeah. And then there's a hospital there in La Jolla -- I forgot what the name was -- anyway, I just hear them moaning. You know when you're dying, that, they were moaning. This was all broken. [Points to chin] You could see this, all broken here. His arm was broken when they had him there. I could still see that. I was only ten.

RP: Later on, you took his ashes back to Japan.

SK: After I finished high school. I said, no, I had to take him back there, 'cause he wanted to go back to Japan to see the family, so I did.

RP: What was that like for you, going to Japan?

SK: It was nice. I mean, for me, fun. It was my first trip out of the, into the world, you know? Here, I've been helping my mother all those years, then no time to go anywhere. And I didn't have no boyfriends or friends that you fool around with. No, I just helped out and that was it. So she sent me to Japan, nice second class ticket to Japan on this boat. [Laughs] And then coming home, I had a grand suite, brand new ship on this, called the Yawata Maru. My, one of my father's brothers was a, he was a, not a captain, a what do you call it. He was a... that works on the ships. Engineer, he was an engineer. Anyway, they gave me this grand suite, which I couldn't believe. All by myself, I thought, oh god, what a shame. [Laughs]

RP: You spent roughly two years in Japan?

SK: Yeah, and I was just beginning to learn Japanese and beginning to like Japan; it was easy, getting easier and easier. See, where my father stayed, where I stayed in Japan was with my father's youngest sister, and she taught all the Japanese etiquette to these nice upper class girls. And at first it was hard. You had to hold your head a certain way, hold your feet certain way. To me it was like, not exactly a prison, but you had to be very, very, it was really very formal. But that was the way she taught people. She taught these young girls from nice home in Tokyo and places like that, and they stayed there. They all stayed upstairs. They learned, in those days they had to make their own trousseau for their wedding, so many, their kimonos and all that. They had to learn how to sew, how to cook, and your tea and how to entertain, well, your tea ceremony. Those are all the things that you have to learn, how to serve dinner, where you hold your hands, where you... it was just too much for me, but then I used to watch. Some of the things, I said, oh goodness gracious. "I could never live like this," I said, thought to myself.

RP: How were you accepted in Japan as a Nisei, Japanese American?

SK: Well, my aunt, I mean, she was really nice. Yes. Except, well, I shouldn't say except, but then one of my father's brothers, yeah, he had one daughter and she went to school in England, and of course, she was speaking, she does speak English very well, but she was a little bit on the snobby side. And I asked her questions, but then she kind of, well, she didn't really snub me off, but she did her best. She was the only daughter. And her father looked exactly like my father, almost like twins. When I saw him after all those years, I thought, oh my god. I mean, my heart just went... I thought I could see a ghost. But I didn't tell that to my, I told that to my aunt, so she was surprised. Yeah, he looked exactly like my father. But he was an engineer of the big steamers, big liners, so that's how, I think he's the one that put me on this new, brand new Yawata Maru. That's the brand new steamer that came to, I think it was the first time it came into L.A.

KP: Would you, did your aunt in Japan, did she work at the imperial palace?

SK: One of my aunts, yes. Oh boy, she was, I mean, that's altogether another world. The language is altogether different. And then one of the emperor's, well, you don't call them wives, well anyway, ladies there, she wanted to see me 'cause I was my father's daughter, see, and being my aunt's, what do you call, relative, she wanted to see me. So one of these, before, okay, so before I went there, for me it was torture. My other aunt had to show me how to walk, how to hold your hands and how to, I mean, it's altogether a different world. You're not, you just, I don't know how to say it. Every minute you have to be on alert, like. And the way she, this aunt talked, her language altogether different. It's really that, well, I guess that's the way they talk in the imperial palace. I don't know. It's altogether, I didn't understand what you're saying half the time. All I knew is how to just, this other aunt that I stayed, she just, she said, "Just bow. Just bow, don't say nothing. Just bow." [Laughs] So, which I did.

RP: So you came back just before the war broke out.

SK: I came back, yes.

RP: Did you, did you travel much in Japan?

SK: Yes. They took me here and there, all different places. If my aunt, she couldn't accompany me most of the time, so my cousins, they took me here and there. It was nice. I went, yeah, all different places, as much as I could. In the meantime, I was trying to learn different things too, calligraphy and the koto, and the tea ceremony, that's, tea ceremony, flower arrangements.

RP: Full cultural immersion.

SK: Yes, yes, yes

RP: Were, in your travels and your time in Japan, did you, were you aware of the military situation?

SK: Yes, we had to be very careful. I know when, on the train, as we walked, there were girls from America here and they were speaking English, rattling on in English. And the Japanese there, soldiers sitting there, and all of a sudden he got up and he just slapped her left and right. Yes, 'cause they were talking English and I guess they didn't like that. That, I, and I just froze. I was sitting two seats back of the, this was the train, train there. And oh my goodness, I said, "Oh my, what's going on?" 'Cause I think they were speaking English, and they weren't doing, just speaking English. And this one Japanese, he just, he was a, what would you call these, one of the soldiers, you know these, when they first start, one of the young soldiers. He got up and he just got up there and he just slapped her left and right. That, I know. And from there on, I just kind of froze.

RP: Kept a low profile.

SK: Yeah. That's why my aunt used to dress me in kimono, not in American clothes. Yeah, everywhere I went, she used to always dress me in kimono.

RP: Tell us about how you ended up on the last boat.

SK: The last boat was like a dream. [Laughs] It was wonderful. They gave me the beautiful first class suite and they treated me like a queen. Yeah, it was really wonderful.

RP: Who identified, informed you that you needed to leave Japan?

SK: American, the, what is it, American, who is it, not the consular. The one that takes care of all these...

RP: Embassy?

SK: Embassy, I guess. Yeah, I guess you'd call it an embassy, I don't know.

RP: How did they get in touch with you? Did they...

SK: No, they told me I had to come home. I said, "Why?" I was just getting used to Japan, you know. And I said, "Why?" "No," he said, "you have to come home." He didn't tell me the war was coming on, but I guess, yeah, so I says alright. I had to come home, I have to come home now. That was it. So rush, rush, rush, got to get things ready to come home.

RP: You were on the last boat that came back to the United States.

SK: I came home, I was just lucky. Last ship that, it was the brand new Yawata Maru, and it came into L.A. And after that another ship came in, but it had to go back. They couldn't, it couldn't come into the port. So I was just lucky.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.