<Begin Segment 16>

MR: When did you retire?

JT: I retired from private practice in October of 1997. Now, I still have my license and my DEA or the narcotics numbers still active because I was asked to be a consultant to an attorney at one time. And I was director of a teaching institution at Portland Community College which I retired from too. And I have been teaching residents or doctors in training ever since I started practice as a volunteer basis, and I still have the title of clinical assistant professor in ophthalmology at the medical school.

MR: And how do you spend your time now that you are retired?

JT: Resting from all of my activities. I really felt burned out, and especially from the practice and all the paperwork. And that was one of the reasons I retired. The paperwork in medicine was horrible.

MR: Looking back on everything you've been involved with, it's probably hard to pick a thing, but what thing gratifies you the most?

JT: The passage of redress, when President Reagan signed the bill in 1988. Now, going back to '81 when I was visiting Japan, the Japan Foundation invited me for twenty days. It was beautiful back there, I didn't want to come home. But the Japan chapter gave me a doll's head. It's called a daruma. It's painted red, looks fierce looking with blank eyes. And what you're supposed to do is to paint in one eye, and when your wish comes true, you paint in the other eye. While in Japan, I made a wish and painted in one. When the first person received her twenty thousand dollars from the redress bill, I painted in the other. And I didn't realize it, but I looked at it, and it turned out one was painted with black ink, the other was painted with blue ink. But I thought to myself, well, that was only proper because it was the American public to support us, and that's why I kept it that way.

MR: What an appropriate thing for an ophthalmologist.

JT: Yeah. They asked me, "How come you drew it in so well?"

MR: What do you do now though, now that you've rested?

JT: I'm still resting. I may go back and become active again in Japanese community affairs which I was at one time and their programs, local programs if I'm needed or if they need me. Other than that, we do take trips. Right now, it's so hot that you really don't want to go anywhere. But we just returned from Las Vegas, and so I'm trying to have some fun.

MR: Good. As we approach the end of this interview, is there anything I haven't asked you that you would like to talk about?

JT: No. Well, possibly one thing. When we were working for redress, we were actually working for the entire Japanese community, all those who were involved with incarceration, evacuation. I would hope that somehow if they're able to, that more would contribute to the national JACL. We didn't do it for that cause. It was a cause for Japanese Americans, primarily, but Americans, all Americans. But those who did receive the twenty thousand, it would be nice if they might consider some kind of donation to JACL.

MR: You mentioned that you did it for all Americans. Do you think Americans understand that?

JT: I think so because we did try to impress upon them that this was not an isolated Japanese American issue. It was an American issue because our, it affected our Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and it almost happened two more times.

MR: Is there anything you'd like to go back to and say more about?

JT: Well, one thing would be that I spent so much time for JACL and JACL issues that I really didn't have time to spend much on medical issues. And so in '88 when I did retire from the LEC, I felt that I should give the medical community some of my time, and that's why I became involved with the local Ophthalmological Society and at one time became their president etcetera.

MR: Just for clarification, what is LEC stand for?

JT: Legislative Education Committee which was the redress arm of JACL.

MR: Thank you. And thank you also very much for having us here, and I've learned a lot. I really appreciate that.

JT: You're welcome and thank you.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.