MURAYAMA​,​ Mrs.

When Japan fought against Russia, we finally won thanks to the help of the earlier President Roosevelt. Until then, Japan had been considered a second-class country, but after defeating Russia, it became a first-class nation. That was the time when Japan sent its first ambassador; before that, we only had envoys. I came to America together with that very first ambassador. At that time, my father was a professor at what is now Kyoto University, and my husband was one of his students. He studied there for four years as a scholarship student and graduated with honors. Because of that connection, when Japan’s first ambassador was appointed, my husband was brought along as one of his aides. My husband and I were engaged while he was still a student, and I came here to marry him. I was a student at Baika Girls’ School, and after graduating, I came to America. I have no intention of ever going back to Japan. Even if I die, I will die here. There’s nothing left for me in Japan anymore. Both my husband and my son passed away here. After Japan lost the war, my husband had already passed away, and two years after the war ended, I took his ashes back to Japan. Japan still wasn’t settled at that time. I built his grave in his hometown of Yonezawa and then came back here. Both of my sons graduated from college here. But when my eldest graduated, there was a severe depression in America, and I thought, “Even with a college degree, he won’t be able to find a job here.” So I sent him to study at a university in Japan. He later joined the Kyodo News Agency, and ever since then, he’s stayed in Japan—he’s become completely Japanese now. My younger son stayed with me. He also graduated from college here, but after he passed away, I came to live in this nursing home. That morning, he had been cheerful—laughing and talking—and then suddenly he said he didn’t feel well, lay down, and died of a heart attack. His wife later remarried and now lives in California. I received a notice recently that my grandson graduated from a university in California. My younger son’s former wife still takes good care of me, and I’m very grateful for that. I will never return to Japan. I am an American citizen. This interview is part of the DMHJNY's new exhibit Issei: Portraits Of The First-Generation Japanese New Yorkers which is on view here: https://www.historyofjapaneseinny.org/issei/