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LT: And then looking at the history of Gresham, this was the site where there were anti-Japanese rallies after the war to prevent Japanese Americans from returning home. And even as late as 2006, the Gresham city planned to build --
TT: Recognize Dr. Hayes.
LT: -- a monument to honor a former mayor and doctor who had been a member of the anti-Japanese incorporation. So what do you make of that, and how you've come along to the events that you're coordinating now?
TT: I just can't even imagine, because I was there in 2006, I was totally irritated by that. Of course, Gresham, you know, is kind of conservative about a lot of things. But I didn't realize the extent, 'cause everyone you talk to, the Japanese people that lived in the Gresham area, when you talk to 'em, they always tell you how wonderful it is, which I guess is the Japanese way, they say, "No, everything was fine." But I had known that there had been trouble earlier on. And when my folks, I would never have moved to Gresham on my own. I am a Portland girl, and that's where I would have been forever. But my folks chose to move there for retirement, and Diane was, my sister was working out in Mt. Hood, and that's part of the reason they moved out there. So we ended up there. So when I first thought about doing, I'd always thought of doing something cultural, because to me, I don't want Gresham people to think of Toyota and sushi, and I felt that's all they ever thought about. But when I moved to Gresham, I didn't have any trouble. I was the first Asian at Cascade Athletic Club, which is a family-owned club. And I never had any trouble. But no one ever thought of me necessarily as different. It was the same thing, my old being a white person. I just kind of slipped in there and I played tennis and racquetball, and none of that stuff ever happened. But I knew that the people were extremely conservative, and I knew that, I was sure that they were, had feelings of bigotry, but it never showed my way. So when I started thinking about I really wanted to do some classes. I wanted to do cable classes, where we would have cooking demonstrations, and maybe every Monday at some time, nine o'clock in the morning or something, there'd be a piece of Japanese culture. Because I really felt that the Gresham people, if they know you, once I meet someone who's bigoted, their bigotry lessens; their hate and anger seems to lessen. And the more they see what Japanese things are all about, it seems like this thing gets better.
So I jumped in when we, the best water testing was when we, three years ago, wondered if we should take on the Japanese garden. And we went out there and I went to the community and I talked to city hall. And then I went and talked to shopkeepers around, and I went to a couple of city council meeting and a couple of the neighborhood meetings just to feel out what it was all about. The support for Tsuru Island was enormous, and not from the Japanese community, but from the Caucasian community wanting to save something that was so special, and they do. They see Tsuru Island as very special. And for a lot of people, as they were taking terrible care of it, they didn't even realize it was a Japanese garden. So it seems to me that if we go into a situation where people may be feeling a way, I think we always, "Hey, this is part of my dad, maybe." We have a chance to make a difference, because I do believe once someone sees a real Japanese person one to one, it's different than the hatred they had for the person who killed their uncle in 1945. So I haven't found a problem with it, and I could be either too gutsy, or maybe I have part of my dad's head. I really have found Gresham to be very, very supportive of everything we're doing, and Skosh was a huge success. I thought no one would come, and these people have no idea about anything Japanese, and they do try everything. And they all want to put on a yukata, so we dress 'em and take their picture. And they're just... and the kids that come are amazing. Then we have the two schools, both Gresham and Reynolds that teach Japanese language, and those two classes are filled. I would like to see us go down to the elementary and at least do something with some ethnicity, and not just Japanese, 'cause none of that is shared. And the only way Dad's world peace will come to be is that we have a chance to one-on-one people. And then especially the kids, the kids are very open. I don't see kids who start out being bigoted, they're trained to be that way. So maybe with a chance of our extending and our outreach, they won't be trained that way. I don't know.
LT: So I'm thinking how wonderful to be born and to be educated in the community where you have this extended network now. What if you were a kid growing up in another community? What advice would you give to the kids or the parents or the teachers where they may be isolated, but where do you start?
TT: I don't know if you can bring people from, let's say, a small community somewhere that they're gonna go, but I guess maybe we need to reach out. I know we have, I have friends who, like the lady who does tea ceremony, if someone would ask her, she'd go anywhere. Or I know that JASO has a program called Japan on the Road, and they go into a lot of schools and talk about stuff. And that's maybe what we need to do more of. And through the libraries. Of course, Multnomah County Libraries are so fabulous, some of the other ones aren't as good. But to get those people to start running some program, and I suppose we had to volunteer and do this stuff. But we need to get out, yes, I do think we need to get out. And so many times you get into an organization and we stay in our own four walls and we don't put ourselves out there. And it's so important that every white person sees a Japanese person, 'cause it does make a difference once you have that one-on-one. And especially with kids.
LT: Thank you.
<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.