Densho Digital Archive - Kenji Ogawa Interview (denshovh-okenji

<Begin Segment 19>

KL: How did you and Alice meet?

KO: Oh, her sister's husband, we used to go fishing together. She was a young, way younger than me. You know he set me up, I said, "You're crazy," she's like a baby. [Laughs] About the second time, huh?

KL: You hit it off?

KO: [Laughs]

Off camera: He would go down with his friends and go bowling in L.A. he would be in the bar while I'm bowling, so when I finished they would come up, him and his friends. So one night his friend told him to take him home, and he lived like maybe on mile from my place. And I said, "I didn't bring him, so I'm not taking him home." He was carrying my bowling ball to my car and everything like that, so, you came with them, you go home with them. So he gave me my bowling ball. So I got it and put it in the car, and I left. And I don't know how he got home, I think his friend left him. And I didn't see him for about a year and a half later, and then my niece were dancing at Disneyland, and then my brother-in-law brought him again. And so after that, we started dating again. But he never griped when I was bowling or anything like that, so that was good. [Laughs]

KL: That's funny.

KO: We used to go a lot of fish, deep sea fishing.

KL: Have you been back to Japan?

KO: Oh, yeah. My boy used to teach English over there. So, "You got to come back, Japan." Wow, it's different. You have to go, beautiful country. Food so good.

KL: That's neat that your son taught English over there.

KO: (Yes), my boy.

Off camera; His girlfriend was over there teaching, too. She went first, and then he went after.

KL: Oh, that's really neat, yeah, that he gets to experience where you lived and where your parents were.

KO: So you know, making money, (...) they went all over Asia, Vietnam, all over, you know, China, he said he don't want to go China no more, he got sick. He don't eat Chinese food too much, (they) got sick, he said no.

RM: Yeah, I had a question about your dad, because it struck me while you were talking that he went from being an interpreter, years working as an interpreter, which must have been good work. And then he came back here and suddenly had to be a gardener. Did he know that was gonna happen?

KO: No.

Off camera: A lot of them ended up like that.

KO: Yeah, most of them. It was hard for him. That's why I helped him, no labor people.

KL: Did your mother have jobs in the '50s and '60s?

KO: Oh, yeah. You know Jacqueline Kennedy? She wore a garment, huh, clothes, Jacqueline Kennedy, clothes, all that, she used to make it, company make it.

KL: Your mom made Jackie Kennedy's clothes?

KO: Yeah.

Off camera: The company that she worked for.

KO: All the Kennedy family.

KL: What's that company called?

KO: Jack's. I don't know if they still have it.

KL: What did your mom think about being back in California? Was it what she expected?

KO: I guess so.

KL: She seemed pretty happy back in California?

KO: Yeah. I don't know, my dad, his business in Japan, he sold that house, he had money. He missed pachinko, you know, pachinko, Japan.

Off camera: So you win like certain...

KO: Oh, plinko? I have heard of that. My mom talks about that.

Off camera: Like you would win, depending on what --

KO: Yeah, candy or cigarettes, something. Anyway, he invested all the money, the house money, he lost it, all the money. So we had to come, came back. Yeah, he did that.

RM: Did your mom work when you all lived in Japan?

KL: Did she have a job?

KO: No, she didn't work. Her dad's comfortable, so she didn't have to work.

KL: Was that hard for her to have to adjust to working in California?

KO: Yeah. Coming back, start over again. But it was hard. It's not easy to work, lot of people.

KL: Well, and garment work is pretty hard, too.

KO: She used to cry a lot. And not everybody good working, you know, mean, too. She said she used to make all the clothes, Kennedy family, movie star.