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a while, because we were living in a Zen temple, stayed with friends and did different things.

We stated in second class hotels, travelled because we wanted to be like the regular Japanese. But it wasn't easy. But basically, we could not, anyway. We knew we could get our money, anytime we wanted to, we could telegram home for money if we needed it. But the Japanese, right after the war, were having a hard time.

D: They were still poor there?

T: Oh, yes, everything was very cheap. It was 360 yen to the dollar, so we could buy anything. But we didn't have that kind of money either. I taught one year at the University of Wisconsin, with that money (it wasn't that much but) with that money, since I skimped so much while going to school, I was able to take the boat on a tour, really, with my mother and the whole group, because the rate was inexpensive for the whole tour. Then they left and my sister and I stayed, for eight months. 

D: Your sister is not also an artist?

T: No, she is not, and yet she is in a way. She worked for the Museum of Modern Art, and she was in sociology and anthropology, at the University of Southern California. And she came to New York to go to graduate school, but it so happened she didn't have any money/ So she started working....

D: Did your parents give you a Japanese name?

T: We all have Japanese names. We adopted English names later, because it was easier for the teacher. Only one sister had an English name for the time that she was born, because she was born in a hospital. Betty is the only one...

D: You have a large family.

T: Yes, eleven children.

D: But you retained your Japanese name.

T: I had an English name, which I won't reveal because I didn't like it, so I dropped it.

D: The reason I'm asking, is that I'm trying to get a sense of the cultural heritage you had, being Japanese Hawaiian.

T: Japanese is Hawaii. We don't have Hawaiian blood.

D: Your parents both came from Japan.

T: Both came from Japan, and didn't speak English.

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