<Begin Segment 5>

RP: And you, what did you do after you graduated high school? You said you went to work?

AT: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: What was your first job?

AT: It was a first and only job. I was, I was there 'til I got married so that was six years as a bookkeeper.

RP: For a...

AT: It was a Japanese exporting and importing company. It was supposed to be one of the big, could have been the biggest one in San Francisco.

RP: And how did you meet Henry?

AT: Well, through dances I guess. 'Cause we used to have dances quite often on weekends. And used to go maybe two times a month, or anyway, quite often. Yeah.

RP: And you liked to dance?

AT: Yeah. I did. [Laughs]

RP: So what did you think of him when you first saw him?

AT: Well, I never... the funny part is he knew our family very well because they lived in San Francisco 'til he was about seven I think. And I was sitting on the step outside reading a book and he was already in college. He had just started and I think I was about fifteen or something. Anyway, he came up and he says, "My, you've grown." Then he went away into the house to see my mother. So I never thought I'd be going around with him and he was afraid he would be called a cradle snatcher. [Laughs]

RP: So when did you get married?

AT: Where?

RP: When?

AT: When? In 1937, October.

RP: And where?

AT: In this Methodist church that, that I belonged to.

RP: In San Francisco?

AT: Yes. Uh-huh.

RP: And you said he had, he had gone to college. Where did he go?

AT: He went to the UC Berkeley, the Boalt Hall, for his law degree. He went to UCLA here, I mean, in L.A.

RP: So he had moved down here to go to UCLA and then he moved back to the...

AT: No, he was already in the, living in Ocean Park, Santa Monica. So, that's why he went to UCLA. and then went to Berkeley for his law degree.

RP: Do you remember your honeymoon? Where did you go?

AT: Well, we were supposed to go to Canada. But we got as far as -- no, we went through Oregon. We went to Washington but we had a little accident I think in Oregon. So we couldn't get as far as Canada.

RP: Then you came back to live here in Ocean Park?

AT: Yeah, well, we came back to, I was living in San Francisco up until then. And so we went to Ocean Park.

RP: And did Henry, did you, did you buy a house?

AT: No, his folks owned a few houses in Santa Monica. So we were able to use one of the house.

RP: And he had a law practice --

AT: Yes, in Los Angeles. Yeah, he used to drive into L.A. every day.

RP: What type of law did he handle?

AT: Well, in those days there weren't many criminal cases among the Japanese. So he wrote up deeds and some divorces I guess. And oh anyway, general type, adoptions...

RP: So he predominately served the Japanese American community?

AT: Yes, uh-huh. (...) He went to Japan for a year, this was before we got married, to learn Japanese, 'cause he lived among the (Caucasians) and his folks 'cause, well and they could understand and speak the English language so he had to go to Japan to learn the (Japanese) language.

RP: So he could, yeah, he could work with Isseis just as well as anybody else?

AT: You mean his Japanese?

RP: Yeah. He could...

AT: No. His family, they spoke English more than... a lot of Japanese families were like that. You know, with folks, some of them could understand and speak English. But like in our case my mother didn't speak any English so...

RP: And he, his office was in Little Tokyo?

AT: Yes, uh-huh. It was right in San Pedro and First Street.

RP: Do you recall spending time in Little Tokyo attending social events or...

AT: You mean in Little Tokyo? Well, there weren't that many events there in Little Tokyo. You know, most of them, like my husband belonged to a club and they were mostly businessmen. And we'd have an annual dance or something and it'd be outside of Little Tokyo.

RP: Was your husband involved with the Japanese American Citizens League?

AT: Yes, he was quite a bit, but that was before we got married. And I know he was chairman of the (Nisei Week), I don't know what you call that, well, in the Nisei Week, I know he was chairman of that. So he was quite active. But...

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.