<Begin Segment 22>

KL: Well, what was your, what are some important parts of your married life, after 1955? And I guess, who is your husband? Tell us who your husband is.

MU: Jundo, Jundo Uzaki. We went to -- Keiko was born in '59, that's my daughter -- we went to Japan in September of 1960, and we lived with his parents at that time. And then in January --

KL: How was it meeting his parents for the first time?

MU: It was kind of scary, but we did okay. And then the following January we went to -- we reached Japan in September, in January he died from cancer, and so we were, my daughter and I were left, you know. But we stayed with the family, tried to help as much as we can, and I got a job teaching conversational English in a girls' school in Osaka. I was able to help financially a little bit. And of course, my daughter was their only grandchild, and so they enjoyed that.

KL: Did you ever talk with people in Japan about being Japanese American?

MU: No, no. I don't recall that we had specifically talked about that.

KL: What did, what did they think of you? What was your students' and your friends' reaction to you?

MU: Coming from the States, I think I first wore dresses and they always wore a two-piece, like a suit, and they thought, "That's different, wearing a dress." And then I would play with my daughter in the backyard or backstreet with another of my daughter's friend, a fellow living right next door, and they would hear me playing, laughing, talking out loud with the kids, and the neighbors thought, "She acts like, just like the people I see in the, on TV." [Laughs] I guess Japanese people are reserved.

KL: I have heard that. [Laughs] But you were Hollywood kind of.

MU: I was very, we were having a good time.

KL: How long were you in Japan?

MU: From, let's see, I came back in '63. Yeah.

KL: I thought it was longer. It was just about three years?

MU: I stayed what, we went in '51.

KL: Okay. I thought you went in '59 or '60.

MU: Let's see...

KL: You said you were married in '55, and Keiko was --

MU: I was married in, yeah, we went to Japan '65, and then I came back '73.

KL: So Keiko was about first grade?

MU: She grew up in Japan. She, yeah, she was thirteen. I think she was about thirteen.

KL: What did you like about Japan, and what was difficult about being there?

MU: I liked Japan. The food was, was good. Being able to speak some Japanese, we got along well in church, at least, not deep conversation, but we were able to communicate. And I started, my father-in-law contacted the Osaka Jogakuin, that's a girls' school in Osaka, and I got a job teaching conversational English. And while there I made many tapes so that students could listen in the laboratory, besides... then I started to teach English, conversational English in junior college when they began that. So I was busy.

KL: And you lived with your husband's parents the whole time?

MU: Yes.

KL: Why did you decide to come back to the United States?

MU: Keiko had, was, had asthmatic condition, and it wasn't good for her in Japan, so she came back. And I came back... she came back in September, I came back at the end of school year, which ends up in March, so I came back in, I think around April or May.

KL: Of 1973?

MU: Yeah, (next) year.

KL: And where did you come? Did you come back to California?

MU: In Fresno, my mother's place, our home.

KL: Was she still living?

MU: My mother? No. No, she passed away, what year was it? (1985).

KL: Did she ever naturalize as a U.S. citizen?

MU: She, yeah. She got her citizenship paper.

KL: Did she tell you why or what it was like taking the exam?

MU: I think they had a class for anyone who wanted to get citizenship paper, and I don't know whether that was done in English. Not, I think it was all in Japanese, but then they got the gist of the constitution. So she became a citizen.

KL: Did she tell you what that meant to her?

MU: No, I don't recall.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.