My mother was stickler for tradition. She said girls, when they get married, someday, you might marry a poor man and can’t eat hot rice. So, when I was single, my mother never allowed me to eat hot rice. I always ate the day before cold rice. And she was right, because when I got married to my husband, he was the oldest. And my mother-in-law was a widow, too. And my husband was supporting four siblings. Sure enough, you know, I continued to eat cold rice.
So, after we were on our own, because my mother would constantly say when she got married in Japan, she had to get up at 3 o’clock and work on the farm. And she couldn’t eat because when she took the second bowl of rice, her mother-in-law would just give her the eye. And while eating, she would repeat the story every day. So I couldn’t eat, you know. But, she didn’t mean it in a bad way, I think.
But, after my husband and I had our own home, I still continued to eat the cold rice. And my husband would scold me. He said, “Now you can eat hot rice.” But, no, I kept on eating cold rice. It got to be part of my, I guess—I acquired that habit. So, ochazuke, we enjoyed ochazuke—putting hot tea...
Date: February 19, 2004
Location: Hawai'i, US
Interviewer: Lisa Itagaki, Krissy Kim
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
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