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LG: So as a child, did you go to Japanese language school or were you or your family involved in Japanese American community?

TM: We were involved in the Japanese American Citizens League, but that basically was it. My mother grew up, when she grew up, her family were Methodists, so she wanted us to be Christian, so I can remember this, that they looked around at different churches to see which one they felt comfortable with. And there was a church down the street from us, which was an Episcopalian church, and they felt welcome there. So we grew up in that church, and so our lives kind of revolved around that church. So it was Christian, it wasn't Buddhist, we didn't have Japanese language school. There wasn't a critical mass of Japanese Americans, although the town had, before the war, had a huge population of Japanese Americans because there were many truck farmers in that area. But after the war, not all of them came back, but there was a Buddhist temple in town. So several of the Japanese American families were Buddhist, but my family was not. I knew very little Japanese, only occasional work. I didn't really hear Japanese because my grandparents didn't live with us. And when we went to visit them, my grandmother could speak some English, and so that's how we communicated. My grandparents, after they left Wapato, when my mother was growing up, they lived in Mt. Vernon and they owned a laundry, dry cleaning. So they were one of three Japanese families in town, so they were very assimilated into that population. And so my father grew up in Pendleton, Oregon, and I think that basically they felt as comfortable in a Caucasian or white community as they did the Japanese American community, although I think they knew that there were certain things, they felt more comfortable, the experience, they felt more comfortable, because so many of our Japanese American friends had been incarcerated.

LG: What about at home were there elements of Japanese culture, whether it be cooking or holidays?

TM: Most of the traditions, Japanese traditions were holidays, and basically holidays are usually religious. So the holiday that was dominant was New Year's. And so we had, we have a huge spread of food, and I think that's one custom that Japanese American families still hold. And all the family relatives get together and enjoy food, et cetera. I never really learned the traditions until I became a teacher, became a teacher here, and decided to do a teacher course on Japan. So then I looked behind the reasons for that holiday and why it was so important, but many of the holidays in Japan are associated with a religion, just as in America, Christmas, Easter, well, Thanksgiving is not... but that idea we would celebrate those, and in fact, I remember I had a friend from Hawaii who, when I lived in Washington, D.C., she came, she was studying here and she came to visit. And I said, "Oh, my uncle lives in Arlington, Virginia, he's invited me to Christmas, do you want to come?" She said yes, and so she came and it was a regular Christmas kind of celebration, and she said afterwards, "You know, I could have closed my eyes, and it was like any other American family. Because she was from Hawaii, it had more elements of Asia or Japan in it. So basically, we were very assimilated.

LG: What was that like doing the research years later? What was the reasoning behind these holidays?

TM: Well, it made me understand more about my ancestry. The other thing is, it made me very proud now. One of the thoughts I have had was that in doing, in having a Japan Studies program with third and fourth graders, was that I never learned this, I never learned Japanese folktales, I never learned why, for instance, there's the Boy's Day with samurai and the symbols for that. And I learned them by teaching it. And the children got, my students got very excited about it, and it was just, it made me proud that the culture was so rich. I think before, because I never saw a Japanese book, I never read a Japanese novel, come to find out that the first novelist was Lady Murasaki, The Tale of Genji, and it's remarkable that a culture that is so ancient, I was not made aware of, and was made to feel ashamed about, until I started teaching. And I can remember, I taught it with a little bit of trepidation, I think I started it in the late '80s, because I didn't know how the children would react. Because when I was growing up, products from Japan were thought of as cheap and unworthy. But by the time I was teaching my students there were cars that were better than American cars, and so it was interesting, when I presented some facts about Japan, one of the students says, "Oh, boy." I said, "Why do you say that?" and he said, "Oh, because they make such good movies and video games and toys." It was a complete reversal of the attitude about Japan when I was growing up to today. And unfortunately, I was exposed to feeling ashamed of Japan, and that it had nothing to offer. So in teaching it, I discovered that, yes, it has, many worthy elements to know about and to appreciate.

LG: When you were growing up, or even as an adult, would you ever make a trip to Japan?

TM: Uh-huh, I did. I made a trip to Japan. The first time, I was in the Peace Corps, and I was in the Peace Corps in Micronesia, which is not very far from Japan. So you served two years, and in between you have a little vacation. So I was so close to Japan, I thought, oh, this is my chance. So I was the first in my family to go to Japan. My grandparents had come, but none of my aunts or uncles had been there. One uncle had, but he married into the family. So at that time, my grandmother was still alive, my grandparents were still alive, and so she went a letter of introduction in Japanese. And so I went and, because I couldn't speak Japanese, and carried this little letter with me. And so I met my grandparents, the grandmother and grandfather on my mother's side, and then went to Kyoto, near Kyoto, Lake Biwa, and met my, I guess great aunts on my father's side. So it was a very wonderful trip, and it made me want to know more.

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