Densho Digital Archive - Michiko Kornhauser Interview (denshovh-kmichiko

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MK: But during that time, before Dave came to Okayama, I belonged to the English conversation class in Okayama through American Cultural Center, and then we used to get various visitors come and talk about it, that's 1965. You know, I know McCarthyism has ended. But at one point, Doctor Frasz, cultural attache was sent by Doctor Reisher to Okayama or various cities and came and talked about how horrible Communism was, never listen to Communist and all these things. After the lecture and then moderator said, "Is there any question?" You know, Japanese never ask questions. I felt sorry for him coming all the way from Tokyo, so I said I had to think about some question. So I just volunteered, and I said, "What's wrong with Communism if it works in that country, if nothing else worked?" You know, they are trying it. It's none of your business to tell them what to do, and I just said that. Immediately, I got blacklisted by CIA as a Communist. So when my husband came and then had a big banquet at the Cultural Center had a big banquet and we were there, when I introduced myself, Dave was sitting next to the American consulate of Kobe at the time, and consul General said, "Well, do you know that woman?" And the consul general said, "That's a Commie. You shouldn't touch her." So my husband just said I'd better be quiet. Circumvent Kobe, consul general, consulate, so we went directly to the embassy. And then we wanted to come back together at the embassy. The man, clerk said, "Where is the passport, where is the visa, where is the waiver?" That's right, where is the waiver? And he said, "What's the waiver, what for?" "Well, this woman has student visa. She has to stay in this country for two years, six more months to go." My husband said, "Wow, my goodness. But I thought the marriage will make it possible?" No, very strict. Marriage has nothing to do with it. A promise is a promise. I signed it when I received the scholarship. I had to stay out of the country for two years. So Dave immediately went back to Hawaii and began to work on the waiver through Congress, Senator Inouye as well as he had some friends in the White House, so I was able to come back to this country on Thanksgiving Day.

SG: So how long did you wait?

MK: Three months. Every day, I had to be near the embassy, so I stayed at the International House in Roppongi in a storage because that's the cheapest place was a storage, so they let me stay there. And I had the most wonderful time meeting all kinds of people without doing all the domestic chores. [Laughs] I attended people's weddings, the reception. Nobody knew that I was, you know. So when there is a party, I went. I had a good time. And then finally, I was able to come to this country. And the first thing my husband asked was, "Would you please iron this?" And I said, "Why did I come here? I was having such a good time." Then while I was there at the International House, I used to have lunch with many different foreigners, different kinds of foreigners. And I said, "Wow. My husband bought me a house. This is the wedding gift from him." And then one woman said, "How dare he does that without consulting you." Then I realized that, oh, I have say in things like this once you get married in America. But I don't have any money, so I'm not doing anything for him, so it's all his money that he has the right. And the woman said, "No way. You don't think like that." So she taught me a lot about how to live in America as a housewife. [Laughs]

SG: Did you and your husband have cultural conflicts, misunderstandings?

MK: Cultural, well, fortunately, he was married to a Japanese woman from Osaka before who was a secretary to him during the occupation. He worked under MacArthur. In fact, he and George were in the same MIS program at the studied in Minnesota. He was, George was in Company F, but Dave was in Company A, but exactly at the same time. Isn't that strange? So then right after the war, Dave was shipped to Tokyo, eventually to Osaka where he met his future wife. But then she was killed. He went to, after his finished his tour, he tried to live in Japan for a while because his wife couldn't come back to the United States. She was a Japanese so stayed to make the living but couldn't do anything, so eventually came back to University of Michigan, and then he got PhD there. The PhD thesis was done at Michigan Center in Okayama, and then after that, taught at Pennsylvania State University and after that New York State University. When there, he was teaching there, his wife was killed by the automobile accident. He was driving the car. He used to drink. And then exactly at the same time, he had a job offer at University of Hawaii. So when he came to Hawaii, and then he met me. So he knew Japanese. And I noticed that I couldn't tell him anything about Japan because he knew so much about it. And statistical things, he was a geographer, so he knew a lot about geography of Japan and environmental geographer. And then I have lived in this country for two and a half years and had so many host families. As a result, I was able to see American families. It's very different from Japanese families, and I got used to it. I never felt the cultural schism, difference or problems when I got married, no. I was lucky I was here as a student.