<Begin Segment 41>

KL: I wanted to ask you about your trip to Japan, too, that reminds me. You said you went to Japan in the '70s, right? About twelve hours ago you said that, I think. [Laughs]

AO: That's right, our first trip to Japan. I think... was it in '76? I think it was. I had just started working for this organization called Friends Outside. I had been a volunteer with them for a number of years, and then their secretary quit, so I came on as secretary. And earned some money so I could afford to go to Japan. So that's when all of us decided that we would take the trip to Japan. My youngest sister Atsuko had been, and we had to go and meet Yoshi, our sister. So the four of us went and traveled a bit in Japan to various places.

KL: What was it like to meet her?

AO: We spotted her immediately in the train station, we recognized her. And it was almost like being with our mother again, because she looked a lot like my mother. And, of course, our Japanese is very poor, and we did our best to communicate, but it was not easy, and I'm sure it was very difficult for her. But we got to meet the whole family, and so I had trouble keeping everybody apart. [Laughs] When you meet them all at once, it's hard. And then so as not to overwhelm her, we were just there with her for a couple of days, and then we went and did some sightseeing and then came back, and then went to Kyushu, southern island, where my folks were from. And then she came and joined us, and we traveled around to see. My aunt had died, because I don't remember meeting Setsu Obasan.

KL: Were you able to communicate with her well enough to know what it was like for her to see you all, to see these sisters she'd never met?

AO: It was a shock to her. I mean, well, she didn't say that, but you could tell. Because compared to her, we're just country bumpkins, really. And you know, Americans are much more broad and wide, free, and they're very [inaudible], and you can't fake that. We did our best, but...

KL: Did she ever speak with you about how she felt that she grew up in Japan?

AO: Her greatest regret, that she feels abandoned by her parents. And no matter how hard we tried to tell her that they really, the intention was to bring her, to raise her here, but her grandmother insisted that... and, of course, the daughter-in-law does not defy our mother-in-laws' edicts. So that's why she left her.

AL: So your father would not defy his own mother?

AO: Well, I don't know if... I don't know. I really don't know. And I don't know if he approved of that decision or not. Because he didn't know that child. I mean, he had never met her, I mean, because he was not there. He had not seen her ever.

AL: Did you ever witness the interactions or what he would say to your mother when she would receive these letters and be crying and feeling the loss of your sister? Do you recall his reaction at all?

AO: No, I don't remember. And whether she did not cry in front of him, which may be possible, that she just read the letters herself. But I'm sure she talked to him about telling him all that was going on in her life, and I'm sure they must have talked about it.

AL: How long did her grandmother live? Was there a point at which her grandmother was gone and they could have brought her over, or did she live a long time?

AO: Well, by then, she couldn't have come. I mean, she could have come for a visit, but she would not have been able to stay, because the Alien Exclusion Act had been passed, and without a special thing from a congressperson or something. And I don't think they knew about trying to petition such a thing. But she was living with Grandmother, and when she started school, she was going. But she had become so spoiled by then, that the rest of the relatives thought it best that, because my father's sister was living in the town of Usuki, and that's where the school was. And my mother was living, I mean, Grandmother was living probably in the outskirts or something a little distance. So what they did was have Yoshi stay with her aunt and uncle during the week and just go home to Grandmother on the weekends. That way... and Misao was a strong woman, and Misao was able to curtail a bit of her selfishness, I don't know. But her children today say... oh, here I'm telling all these secrets. But anyway, she, I think, all her life has felt sorry for herself for never knowing her parents.

AL: Well, from how you have described them, that sounds like that's a great loss, because they both sound really exceptional people. I was curious -- I'm sure Kristen was probably gonna ask you this also -- just about your mother's life after the war and when she left this life. And also about your sisters, just a little bit about their personalities. So it's three questions, but...

AO: Yeah. Well, like I said, earlier, my mother was helping out in the fields a lot when we were in Cienega, and also in Gilroy. And so when we were real little, my older sister Toshi was pretty much taking care of us. And she was doing such a good job that Mother let her, you know. So we had to... she was strict. When we'd go to school, and you come home, and you're so happy because you got a hundred percent on your test, "Well, how many others got a hundred percent?" You know, it's not that great if ten others got it. But if you were the only one, then it's great. And things like this. So she ruled the roost. And she's very capable -- she is a very capable person, never had a sick day in her life. I missed so many school days from being sick, but she never did. And she was a straight-A student type of person. She worked hard, and does to this day. Very aware of her place, what others might think of her and stuff like this. And my younger sister Kazue became a nurse, and she and I are kind of alike except that she's very friendly, bubbly personality, she makes friends with strangers very easily. When she's standing in line, she's talking to everybody type of person. And then my youngest sister Matsuko is, has the strength and firmness of my older sister. She's capable. All three of them have artistic talents. Well, Toshi liked to do pottery, and Atsuko's got a good eye. People who ask her opinion about, "Do you think this looks good or not?" type of thing. And Kay has been -- Kazue, we call her Kay now -- because Kazue was too hard for a lot of people to pronounce. And she does watercolors and sketches now, type of thing.

<End Segment 41> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.