The term “Nikkei American” consists of many different shapes and forms. Some Nikkei Americans are born and raised in America, and there are also “Kibei,” Nikkei Americans who are born in the US but leave their parents to go study in Japan and are essentially raised in Japan. Some are Nikkei Issei who are born in Japan and gain their US citizenship, and some Japanese join the Nikkei community by marriage to a Nikkei American.
I met Masako Kato of Montebello, California, who was the daughter of two Nikkei Issei parents and raised in Tokyo. Her father came stateside before the war, settled in the Seattle area, and called over her mother from Japan for marriage. Later, her eldest sister was born in New York, but while pregnant with her second sister, her mother returned to Japan in order to care for her ailing grandmother. Eventually, her father returned to Japan as well, and they lived together as one family in Shinjuku, Tokyo.
“During the war, every time the sirens went off to signify an air-assault, we would hide underneath the kotatsu until the bombing was over. During those times, my father would tell us many stories about America, a place where I had never been. The more I heard about America, the more my adoration for the country grew. I had decided in my heart that when I grew up, I was going to go to America to get married.”
The time came when the young lady’s dreams would come true. After the war, one of her father’s friends returned to Japan from America due to illness. After he passed away at the Holy Cross hospital, his widowed wife decided to return to the States and live there until she was old enough to collect social security. She took a picture of Masako with her back to America. That picture made its way into the hands of Hana Kato, owner of the thriving Daruma Café in Little Tokyo of Los Angeles. Hana’s husband, Takichi, was a well-known and respected man among the LA Nikkei community, as he ran a five-story restaurant called ‘Kawafuku’ on San Pedro Street before the war.
Takichi had once worked as a chef for the Japanese Imperial Court. He accompanied the royal family to America as their personal chef, but upon hearing Duke Matsugata’s complaint that “there is no Japanese food in America,” Takichi declared, “I will stay here and spread Japanese cuisine,” and he actually kept his word and ended up staying in America. After raising ‘Kawafuku’ to prominence as the number one Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles, he attempted to return to Japan after the war; however, due to such a long stay in America as an illegal alien, he could no longer get clearance to leave the country.
Takichi’s wife, Hana, had always believed that a Japanese woman, born and raised in Japan, would be the right person for her youngest son, Mitsuo. It was because Mitsuo himself was a kibei-nisei, receiving his education in Japan.
Masako opened up to us about a secret regarding her husband’s past: “There’s a particular episode about how Mitsuo was able to return to America after the war. I think he had dual-citizenship at the time, so because of that, he was enlisted with the Japanese military. Naturally, it becomes more difficult to obtain an American passport if you’ve served in the Japanese military. So, after the war, he went to the city hall along with his sister’s husband, who was there on a business trip, and there they found the copy of his family register—and his brother-in-law tore it up. By now it’s probably past the statute of limitations, but he secretly told me that that’s how he was able to come back to America.”
The two met for a marriage meeting in Tokyo in July of 1956. The matchmaker was Aiko Yamano—a distinguished and well-known beautician.
“When Aiko Yamano’s son came to study abroad in America, Mama (Masako refers to her mother-in-law, Hana, as Mama) became his sponsor, and because of that, we had a family-like relationship [with the Yamanos]. I met Mitsuo at Aiko’s house, and later that day, we toured the Tokyo area on Aiko’s chauffeur-driven Cadillac. I grew up in Shinjuku, but until then (she was 24), I had never been to Asakusa [laughs]. Mitsuo is 7 years older, so at the time he was 31.”
When asked about her first impressions of her husband, she remained vague and did not disclose many details: “Well, there was a lot of gorgeous food lined up at Aiko’s house. After eating, we were told to go upstairs together, and we just chatted for a while.” On the other hand, when Mitsuo was asked about his first impression of Aiko, he apparently said, “You can see all of her teeth when she smiles.”
However, the fact that they were wed just seven days after their meeting at Aiko’s house proves that, from day one, they had both left positive impressions on one another.
© 2008 Keiko Fukuda
