Japanese Bride in America

I am Milo I was born in a little town of oo near Yokohama in 19 45 after the war had ended I met an American soldier named Walter lats we fell in [Music] love two years later we married and left Japan for the United [Music] States on the day our plane landed in Cleveland Walter's Hometown I was nervous and worried about meeting his [Music] family Walter's mother was friendly but I wondered if she was wishing that Walter had married an American Girl the others are nice to me [Music] too then I had my first look at Cleveland Ohio the city which was to be my new [Music] [Applause] [Music] home Mrs rat had been living alone since Walter's father died and we are going to stay with her until we could get a Home of Our Own as I looked around me I was frightened in this house I would have to face a new life very different from the one we had known in [Music] Japan [Music] e the next evening Walter invited his family to come to the house and see the pictures he had taken in Japan I was still une easy because I wasn't sure these people liked me something unpleasant happened to me that night Walter's cousin telephoned and Mrs rats wanted me to introduce [Music] myself English was hard for me then especially on the telephone and what I expected happen I couldn't understand the word I knew there was no reason to be upset but I felt stupid and [Music] ashamed [Applause] I took this picture of miwako on our wedding day this is miwako's Hometown where we met and this is her mother miwako took this picture of me near Mount Fuji one thing that especially intrigued me was bamboo this is miwaku and I just after we became engaged and this is a picture of miwako's family taken the day we were [Music] married the picture show was almost like introducing miwako's family to my [Music] own [Applause] more than anything else I wanted my mother to accept miwako and to like her especially because the two would often be alone together while I was away on business one thing was sure the children like [Music] her I could see miaka was relaxed and happy now she was teaching the kids a Japanese [Music] [Applause] game the next day I introduced miaka to my town I was a little nervous for her sake because I knew that an American with a Japanese wife would attract attention on the street we did get a look of real resentment from one woman she had lost a son at iojima miaka was Disturbed but when I explained she understood I knew she was still feeling a little strange and I thought some new clothes might make her feel [Music] better so we went shopping the day came two weeks later when water had to go away on [Music] business [Music] at his suitcase spped shut I felt already the loneliness of being without him water's mother would be with me but my poor English made it hard for us to talk and we did not know each other [Music] yet [Music] [Applause] [Music] l [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] w [Music] I became homesick for Japan and my own mother I remembered our house the voices of my brothers and sisters I remembered [Music] home [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh I wondered if Walter 300 miles away in another city what at rad I [Music] was [Music] when my trip was over and I came home I could hardly wait to see miwako [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] although miwako tried to conceal it I could see that she'd been desperately lonely while I was away more than anything else I wanted her to be happy one thing was clear I would have to have a different job one that would not take me away from miwako but what [Music] job [Music] these bamboo carvings seem so simple maybe we could even make them ourselves miwako thought it would be fun to try [Music] that night miwako wrote to her brother asking him to send us some raw [Music] bamboo [Music] weekends and evenings miwaku and I [Music] [Applause] experimented [Music] [Applause] little by little we improved on our first crude [Music] attempt [Music] we both became so interested in what we were doing but we lost all track of time and often worked late into the [Music] night finally we were so pleased with our work that I decided it might be sailable a friend of ours owned a small house furnishing store and had offered to try selling the things for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] us the objects sold so quickly that we could hardly make them fast enough [Music] not long after I was to go on another business I always dreaded these separations as much as Mi [Music] Waco just before I left my mother handed me a letter it was from my friend who owned the store and inside was another check for a sizable amount and a request for many more orders more than miwako and I could fill working only evenings and weekends [Music] I never went on that trip then and there I made up my mind to quit my job and go into the bamboo business I had some savings and so we decided to open a [Applause] store I was so happy about the store that little by little I was feeling less like a stranger in a foreign country and more at [Music] home and then the telephone rang I knew the others were busy and I should have answered it myself but I just [Music] couldn't [Music] they hung up I couldn't blame Walter for being annoyed with me and I was [Music] ashamed I decided to do something about this so I joined a class at YWCA where I could improve my [Music] English [Music] [Applause] [Music] as time went on my English improved so much that I was able to wait on [Music] customers but I was still afraid of the telephone Walter understood and always answered for me I was grateful and yet each time the phone down I felt that I had failed [Music] him it was after our regular closing time and Walter was anxious for us to get home we had both been working very hard ever since the opening of the store the next day was a Sunday and we were going to go on a picnic we thought a day in a country would do us both good [Music] business at the store had been slow at first but now we could look around us with pride in what we had [Music] done we are together and our future seems [Music] good it was fun being along with water just like our first stays in [Music] Japan [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] la [Music] Walter needed a doctor and somehow I had to get [Music] one I have no choice now at that moment the telephone became my friend instead of my [Music] [Applause] [Music] enemy when War was better we decided to give a skak [Music] [Applause] [Music] party [Music] I no longer wondered whether I was liked I knew I was the Miss have become a second mother to me [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] there was something in my mind that night something I have to tell water [Music] about [Applause] [Music] I told him I was going to have a [Music] baby but that was just a beginning we have two of them now two little girls I wish my mother could see [Music] them meanwhile here is a [Music] picture [Music] oh

Channel: US National Archives

Views: 542,223

Keywords: US National Archives, NARA

Id: cQZ5NBKmhpo

Length: 30min 32sec (1832 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2017