“Captain of the Land Ship”

Kiyo’s story: 1930s

Once the family reestablished itself, Kiyo embraced life as if to make up for the hardship that had impacted her teenage years. She became the family driver when the family bought its first car, an Oldsmobile, from Mr. Hudson, who gave her driving lessons as part of the deal. Kiyo drove mostly to the store and back during the week. She recalls having to leave dances at the Y around 10 pm to go and pick up her parents at the store.

Bachan liked to go for drives on the weekend (with Kiyo driving). She sometimes rented a cottage in Santa Cruz for a week; but she could never stay a whole week because of the store, so she would invite others to stay — often those without a car who would appreciate getting out of town for a vacation. Kiyo would ferry people back and forth during the week. There were many stories about auto mishaps enroute. Getting to Santa Cruz in the 1930s was a much longer trip than it is these days. Kiyo remembers losing a tire (it rolled right off the car) around 19th Avenue once.

Kiyo would also chauffeur visitors from out of town. After business trips to Japan, Bachan invited the captain and some crew members of the Taiyo Maru to dinner, and Kiyo drove them around to see the sights. In his appreciative thank-you note, the captain wrote to Kiyo, “You are captain of the land ship.”

Kiyo’s Story, part 6: Diva

This post was originally published on July 29 2018.
mage: © R. A. Sasaki. All rights reserved.