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LR: So Louise lived to be...

MR: A hundred and one. And I lived with her from, I guess, from her late '90s, I think. I think she had a caregiver, we had a caregiver, and I don't know when, in the last five years or so, really. And then it was usually daily, in the eight hours or so, in the daytime. And I think eventually we had one twenty-four hours, but that was at the very end.

LG: So I'm curious if she ever talked about the house. Did she see it as a Japanese American space or as a space of education to teach about Japanese culture? Do you know how she talked about the House or how she saw it?

MR: I still don't think she talked about it in quite that way, she would just talk about the things she was going to do, all the things that were going to go on, and what I should do to help her out, things like that was going on. I just know that she was always there, always wanted to do things there, doing whatever. There was always something going on with the Japanese House for Louise, absolutely.

LR: She was feeding [inaudible].

MR: I remember that, too.

LR: They were put in OT.

MR: Was that what it is? They were doing that.

LR: These are stories that I remember Grandma talking about, sort of like bringing food, bring [inaudible], things like that, feeding them. Because this was, I remember this being a big deal, sort of like bringing these people in from Japan, and they did highly specialized work, and so they wanted to make sure that they were treated really well, so Grandma [inaudible] for them and bringing out, I think we brought out food to them.

MR: Yeah, they did a lot of, the Japanese folks really went all out and cooking Japanese type stuff. And I know Louise was up there cooking away, taking stuff up, and did someone get ill? I think someone got sick. They had to worry about getting them to the hospital, remember? Something like that. Something like that. But she had a lot of fun with that, I think. They really cooked up a storm for these guys.

LG: Do you know if she ever experienced any racism or discrimination while working at the House? We've been researching how the city was operating it before the Friends group was started in the '80s.

MR: I hadn't heard about anything, any incidents when she was working at the House, or involved with the House at all. I don't remember anything. Have there been incidents? I guess, perhaps... have there? I don't know.

LR: Well, I can...

LG: We can talk about your experiences, yeah. How do you see the House as you've grown up into becoming an adult. Do you see it as a space for Japanese Americans, or what is the House to you?

MR: Let's see. Well, it's a place that was very important to my mom, and also I guess it's a place that's so nice because it's so Japanese, I guess, in the middle of Philadelphia. And it maintains that the culture of Japan, but it's very accessible to folks, to come and see. It's not really intimidating like a museum or anything like that, it's a place we could see how people lived in Japan. And I think it is, so it's the way things are, our Japanese residents and the teahouse, which is a good thing.

LG: Were you involved with JACL as an adult?

MR: I don't think so, not much. Except only things that my mom was wanting to do. [Laughs] Dinners and things like that, I don't think I took too much. I don't think I was involved in too many things unless I was being...

LR: Did you get your scholarship from the JACL?

MR: No, I got back --

LR: The scholarship?

MR: No, that came from the union.

LR: No, no, no, the art scholarship, when you went to, you got a scholarship to go to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art?

MR: Partly, I think, yeah, that came from...

LR: Do you remember if that came from JACL?

MR: No, I think I got some scholarship from, something about, or education, and I had something to do with Saburo, somehow, being a veteran, a deceased veteran. I got various things from various places. And I did get a scholarship from the Board of Education for art. So I collected all these little bits and pieces, and that got me to Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2023 JACL Philadelphia. All Rights Reserved.