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CHOKI OSHIRO
published Oct 14, 2018
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Land is a Treasure
I am nobody but a retired old man in Hawaii, which is a small state,
but I have fruit trees, such as orange, avocado, banana and fig, in my own
yard. In mango season, my grandchildren come over and eat our mangoes,
which is a great joy for me. Watering, picking up fallen leaves - such a daily
routine is enjoyable. I am glad I can do it, because such yard work is ideal for
keeping healthy. I have been in Hawaii for 72 years, and this year, for the
first time, we were warned to save water. We did not have much rain this
year. The sun was shining over us all year around. Still Hawaii is the most
comfortable place to live and I am grateful I can live here. There are also
many people from Okinawa here.
I really sympathize with the Okinawans in Brazil and feel sorry for
them. If the Okinawans there could buy some land, at least 10 to 100 acres,
their descendants would greatly benefit. I believe in any time land is a
treasure. No matter how you use it, it will give you comfort. The land may
be used as a farm, orchard, or to grow trees and flowers as a hobby. This is
my concern about them. I do not think I understand what the Okinawans
there have in mind. To me, they are extremely small-minded.
Even a person like me, who lives in such a small place as Hawaii, had
bought and kept 2.5 acres of land and some residential quarters for future
use. However, during World War II, our property was condemned by the
U.S. Navy. Since they at least paid the original purchase price to me, I did
not lose any money. I bought three acres of land on the island of Hawaii,
but I gave it to my son.
Helping the Homeland
After the war, there was a group effort to send second-hand clothes to
Okinawa. In Waipahu we collected old clothes and some English textbooks.
A Japanese language school kindly let us use their classrooms for packing the
clothes and textbooks into boxes. We also sent many of our own books.
Since there was no institute for higher education in Okinawa, we
wanted to have a college there and appealed to the U.S. military offices concerning
the matter. It took something like a war and a new administration to
bring about the drastic change in thinking necessary to establish a college in
Okinawa. Now we have a college because the military offices recognized the
goodwill movement of the Okinawa Rescue-Welfare Committee in Hawaii.
We tried to encourage young Okinawans' enthusiasm for studying and
learning. When the Okinawan Government selected five students to study
at the University of Hawaii and other American universities, two or three
members of our committee, including the chairman, took them around to
be introduced. They went to the other islands, too. Since I was one of the
members, I got acquainted with these boys and continued corresponding
until recently.
A Visit Back Home
My children want to go to Okinawa this summer, so I am thinking of
going with them if I will not be a burden to them. My brother, my son, and
some of my relatives and their families still live in my hometown. However,
I understand that all my school friends have passed away. I feel very lonely
just thinking about it, I am alone. Counting in the Japanese way, I have
already reached my 88th year. If I count my age in the American way (since I
am a naturalized American citizen), I must, with God's mercy, live until
next year in order to celebrate my 88th birthday (an auspicious occasion in
Japanese tradition].
One's hometown is a very dear place. Until the 39th year of Meiji,
when I was 15 years old, I had been raised on potatoes and miso soup and
had enjoyed the air and water of that place. I will never be able to forget my
hometown. I played in the mountains and in the ocean there in my elementary
school days. My hometown! I sincerely hope I can go and walk on the
land once again while I am in good health. I have various hopes and wishes
for Okinawa, this one island in the ocean. Many of the beaches in Okinawa
are suitable as reclaimed lands. The population there is quickly increasing,
and their land is limited. Therefore they should reclaim more lands, I think.
Once, we Okinawans in Hawaii established a small company to reclaim some
land in Awase. However, we failed in the middle because unfortunately,
what we Okinawans in Hawaii thought and people in Okinawa thought
were a little different, and we could not reach any agreement easily. I
bought some stocks in that company and lost my money. However, I am still
happy, because I did something good for Okinawa.
I think the Okinawan Government should seriously consider emigration
as a way out. They must consider quickly sending out Okinawan people
to larger countries such as Brazil, where the population is still small, before
other countries send their people. Brazil is about 140 times larger than
Japan. The best thing for the Okinawan Government to do is to make a plan
to buy uncultivated and uncivilized lands in Brazil and send out our people
there to settle. As people say, "First come, first choice." Don't you
think so?
American Citizenship
My ancestors, grandparents, parents and sisters were all buried here in
Hawaii-! took responsibility for their remains and had them brought to
Hawaii. Of course my hometown is Okinawa, but my ancestors are here. For
most people, the purpose of visiting their hometown is to visit their
ancestors' graveyards. In my case, however, the purpose of visiting my
hometown is merely to visit my relatives.
I became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1953 and have a
voting right. The year 1978 is the year to elect the governor, mayor, senators
and house representatives. I am going to vote with my children. Everyone
has his own choice. Since I am a member of Democratic Party, I am hoping
for our party's victory. I don't have to worry about campaigning too much
this time, because there is no candidate whom I associate with.
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When someone
in our family or relatives becomes a candidate, we become very busy. For
example, when my son-in-law (Robert Oshiro) became a candidate, we were
terribly busy. Fortunately he won the race three times, so we can talk about
it as a happy memory. Some candidates march through the streets with campaign
flags and music. Others visit each house to ask people's support.
When they are elected, the candidate invites the people who supported him
and gives them a feast with nice music. There he can collect some money
himself. He also becomes popular. He will represent the people of his district
and present their requests to the legislature. If he should be successful,
he will make some money again. Those who are called legislators seem to try
their best to always make money. However, they are also very busy. If one
should be elected as many as five times [serve ten years], there seems to be a
pension after his retirement. Most candidates are attorneys or doctors, so to
win the election is very profitable for them. In recent years, the number of
women candidates has increased.
There are several problems here. Our present governor, George Ariyoshi, is aJapanese-American. On the other hand, Mayor Fasi is an Italian-American. This mayor is quite a shrewd man. First of all, since both of them belong to Democratic Party, there will be a serious competition between them. Hawaii is small, and yet there are too many people. Because of our nice climate and weather conditions, many people move here from the mainland. There are also refugees, and the number of unemployed people has also increased. Welfare problems become more and more serious. It is a governor's big task and burden to reduce the number of such welfare and unemployed people. I think the situation in Okinawa is probably the same. Some of Life's Pleasures In the garden at my house, there are many trees, such as mango, tangerine, orange, lychee, loquat, avocado, fig, mountain apple, banana and so on. The loquat is well known among Okinawans as a medicine for cystitis and diabetes, so many people come to our place to pick the leaves and branches. I am glad that I can offer this to them. People also come to pick mango and avocados. They look happy and so I too am happy. We have both Okinawan deigo and Hawaiian deigo trees. They bloom one after another with beautiful red flowers. I have a plant which is said to have been picked from a cliff near my hometown. It is nothing unusual, but I am growing it with pleasure, because when I look at it, I feel as if I were in my hometown. When figs ripen and yellow, small birds such as sparrows and mejiro (white eyes) come to eat. Looking at the birds eating my fruits is also a happiness to me. In the old days, there were more forests and mountains and the birds didn't come down to the residence areas. Now as a result of our population increase doves, cardinals and other wild birds come down to our yards more freely. The relationship between the birds and us human beings became closer. The White Cat There was a beautiful white cat, with black spots, lying by my front yard fence. The cat often came to our place. It was lying very quietly, so I went to see what happened to her, saying, "What's wrong with you?" I found out that she was dead. While praying for her, I addressed the last words to the soul for guidance in passage to the other world: "I have to do something in a hurry, but wait for me. I'll come back and bury you under my tangerine tree. You probably are a victim of traffic accident. Too bad! Please die in peace." This was the second time I buried animals, victims of traffic accidents. I placed a red plumeria flower on her grave to remember her. We will see more such accidental deaths of animals in the future. The more convenient life becomes, the more we will have such by-products of civilization. If the world becomes more civilized, things will become more complicated. In the old days, we either walked or depended on horses. Now a car does everything. If we want to go to a far away place, we can go by airplane. Mother's Day Lunch I have been living in Waipahu for 66 years and have been around Oahu several times. Last Mother's Day, my daughter-in-law told me we were going to Waimea Restaurant. I asked her if it were the Waimea on Kauai and she answered me, laughing, that it was on Oahu. Everyone in our family, including our grandchildren, were in the car and my son was the driver. I remembered the road in Wahiawa well, because we used to pass there. The road sides were just like old days; the pineapple and sugar cane fields had not changed much. And yet, everything looked new and strange to me, because I had not visited that area since my retirement ten years ago. I saw Waianae Range far away, the town of Haleiwa below and also two bridges. They looked different. We went back to the main road and headed to the Waimea Restaurant. Many cars were parked as if it were a festival day. My grandchildren were happy and feeling merry. Since they had shoes on, they tried to go everywhere, even into a small pool of water, and their mother was busy chasing after them. The restaurant was crowded with people celebrating Mother's Day. About 13 members of our family , including my daughter-in-law's parents and others, were there. Everybody chose their favorite food and enjoyed eating. For the first time, I saw the great waterfall, about 60 feet high, with muddy water dashing down. It was a lovely sight. I have lived on this island since 1912 and went around the island many times. I had passed through Waimea before, but I never knew about the waterfall and restaurant. It was exactly as a proverb said, "Todai mota kurashi" (One must go around for news of home). It was a wonderful present for Mother's Day from our daughter-in-law's sisters to my wife. Thanks to them, I also discovered this wonderful place on our island. I think I am going out with young people to see as many places as possible. |
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