<Begin Segment 7>

MK: Fields in the entire region turned yellow with blossoms in Nagano Prefecture. Do you remember that?

RM: Yellow blossoms...

MK: Colza blossoms.

RM: Colza blossoms? I'm not sure what they were, but I remember I always saw a sort of flowers or another when I was walking in the countryside.

MK: They have a famous colza blossom song in Nagano.

RM: The song goes "colza blossom all over"?

MK: And...

RM: I see.

MK: Nagano produces a lot of scholars.

RM: Hum.

MK: People are smart there.

RM: Is that so?

MK: I am wondering why. [Laughs]

RM: Because they have a long winter there, I guess.

MK: Nagano is also known for the high-quality beef. From the Matsumoto region.

RM: It is? I see.

MK: Very famous.

RM: You were not born in this country?

MK: I was born in Nagasaki Prefecture.

RM: Nagasaki. That is why you speak very good English. I heard that a lot of foreign people live there in Nagasaki.

MK: I grew up in Okayama Prefecture.

RM: I see. I heard that is a beautiful area too. They grow a lot of peaches, and grapes too? I read in a magazine that Okayama is doing very well economically because their peach production is very strong this year.

MK: What kind of Japanese magazines do you subscribe to?

RM: No, I just go to Anzen store and buy them. I've been subscribing to Bungei Shunju.

MK: That is impressive.

RM: I enjoy reading the magazine. But it strains my eyes. I also read newspapers from Seattle and San Francisco. I subscribe to them.

MK: Is that the North American Post?

RM: Yes. The North American Post is running articles about this museum for a young painter who passes away. It is opening near where I was born. In Ueda City, and it is pretty close. The museum director writes great articles for the paper.

MK: It brings back fond memories.

RM: Yes, yes. When I hear about the neighborhood. It brings back memories.

MK: After you graduated from the upper elementary school...

RM: Yes.

MK: What did you do?

RM: I took an additional course in the winter, and it was for reading and writing. That's what I did. I learned useful skills like sewing too. And etiquette. [Laughs] Wearing white tabi socks. [Laughs] We learned how to walk on a tatami mat floor. We did it only at school, but not at all at home. [Laughs]

MK: How about tea ceremony?

RM: Yes?

MK: Tea ceremony.

RM: No, no. I heard learning tea ceremony is very popular now. The house I was born in is quite old. The family keeps it as it is and built a new one in the back field. They are renting the old house to a tea ceremony instructor. It was such a rural area, but it totally changed. Only people from special families learned tea ceremony when I was a child. Rich families, you know.

MK: How about flower arrangement?

RM: Flower arrangement was something that men would learn. Guys. It's funny, isn't it? Women didn't do it. They were all men. I don't know how it is now, but men did it when I was there.

MK: Tea ceremony used to be conducted before someone went to a war field...

RM: Yes.

MK: ...to battle.

RM: Oh?

MK: Flower arrangement probably has the same background.

RM: It might.

MK: Samurai warriors...

RM: Oh, that might be the reason. Women didn't learn flower arrangement. It was all done by men. Men did flower decorations for wedding ceremonies. I don't know why women didn't. Women did a lot of weaving and sewing.

MK: Where did you learn how to cook?

RM: Hmm?

MK: Cooking.

RM: Oh. No, no. I didn't take any classes. Magazines, I guess, many women's magazines had recipes when I was in Japan. I looked at those. I don't cook often though. Some people like cooking, but I don't.

MK: Did you learn from your mother?

RM: Yes, yes. That's how I learned. She taught me how to prepare some special meals and gave me some instruction like how much water I need to put.

MK: You needed logs for cooking.

RM: Yes, yes. Logs. We needed logs. We didn't have a cooking stove. Schools had coal burning stoves, and a school custodian placed a fire starter in each stove for us. We put coals in it, and boys fanned it with their jackets. [Laughs] That's how we did it.

MK: How about charcoal?

RM: Yes, yes. I put them in the heated table and used them for cooking. What was it? The one you cook on.

MK: Stove.

RM: We used charcoal. Also those small portable heaters were always around.

MK: Did they make charcoal in Nagano Prefecture?

RM: I think so. We bought it. It came in a big straw sack. We bought it and used it.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.