Densho Digital Archive - Atami Ueno Interview (denshovh-uatami-01-0011)

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SG: When you said, so this was after the war?

AU: Yes. And I worked there for a few years. And then, by then, I had an uncle in Honolulu, and this is my mother's younger brother. And he said, well, "If you'd like to come back to Hawaii," then he said that he would be willing to pay for, you know. So I thought, well, you know, it's kind of nice. You think about when you live somewhere, and you think, well, I'd like to, you know, go back. And so I took that up, and then I went back to Hawaii. And that's where I met my husband, Henry, on the way back. And I stayed there in Hawaii for about four or five years, and I got so homesick. Well, it's not like home, you know. And because the friends said, I mean that you knew, they're all grown up. They have families, and they're gone. Most of them are gone. And so, then you, I went back to my old town that, where I was because my cousin was still there. She was married, and she was there, so I went back. I went to stay with her, but things were not like the same. And the Issei ladies that I knew, well, they still, the Issei people still have the same feeling as, like the time that they left Japan. They expected me to act that way, and I had said, well, you know. I said, "They don't say that in Japan anymore." Even in Japan, they're not that old fashioned anymore. "But you're from Japan, you're not going to act like the girls over here." Anyway, I was getting like, oh, it was a little town anyway.

SG: Was it hard to --

AU: Everybody knows everything, whatever you do. You went out what time last night, and you came home what time last night, what were you doing, everything. And I was just getting the third degree on every move I make. And so anyway, I thought, well, I'd like to go back to Japan. And so in the meantime, I did go to business school for a while. I thought it was going to be a good time. I can take my shorthand and my typing, that would help.

SG: In Hawaii?

AU: Yes, in Hawaii. Then I went back to Japan, back to my folks. Then fortunately, I did get a job with the U.S. Air Force over there in Itazuki, the base commander's secretary there. So I got a civil service job, at an overseas salary. And then I got to work for the, after the base commander left, then I worked for the director for operations who used to be the executive officer, and then he became the director of operations, and I worked for him. But I must say, I had the nicest bosses. They were all so nice. It was very nice working for them. They kind of, I guess I was very fortunate. Everybody that I worked with or worked for, they all looked after me. Maybe I look so vulnerable that they had felt like they had to take care of me, but they were so very nice. They all protected me from everything. I remember going into the meeting where they had the staff meeting, and I went in there to take the minutes and whatever, and the base commander, now and then, you know, in the military and even if they're all officers and then, now and then some language would come out. The commander would say, "Now, now gentlemen, there's a lady present, watch your language." [Laughs]

But I learned quite a bit there; whereas, we, there was a slot, a Japanese national slot there for our clerk. But we did have a janitor, and that the, you know, the airmen had to do the job. They had to kind of, you know, sweep and mop the floor, and they were complaining about it. So the commander says, "We have a slot there for a clerk, a position, don't we? Let's get a janitor and put him in that position." So we hired a Japanese janitor, and he was working for them. Well, he had to go to an orientation. He came back from the orientation. He was awful... he came to me and he said, "They asked me how many words I can type, and I'm in, what are they talking about?" I had to call the civilian personnel office and tell them what the... and so it was okay. We had a janitor for a clerical position, but everybody was very kind to me.