Taka Rothenberg

Taka's Beads Taka Rothenberg

Childhood Once there was a pink-eyed boy who suffered from trachoma. His name was happened to be Torao, so I called out to him, "Hey, Tora Tora!" for trachoma. Of course, that made him furious; he chased me with a long bamboo stick, and I had to run like hell. I was almost at my door when he caught up and hit me. Mother was so shocked. "Why did he do that to you?" "That's all right, Mother," I said, feeling I deserved it. The Pioneer I was awakened by a commotion in the hold of the freighter Kaiun-maru. I rushed up to the deck with my shipmates of thirteen days at sea. The sky was still dark; I rubbed my half-open eyes and saw the horizontal black band passing slowly overhead. Someone whispered, "The Golden Gate Bridge!" At last! Is this really America, not Japan? I spotted what looked like ghostly tombstones off to my left. Minutes passed; they changed colors from gray to pink as they were touched by the rising sun. This must be a wonderful land of giants. I found myself in love with a whole new world. As we disembarked, I wished Dr. Shinoda and Reverend Tsuboi good luck. While on board, they taught me poker, and I remember sneaking into the ship's kitchen, where we made ourselves rice balls before I retired to my cabin for a nap before breakfast. My roommate, a lady minister, disapproved of our "gambling activities" and gave me the silent treatment. It didn't bother me in the least. My only worry was that we might be shipwrecked before reaching America. In fact, I went to sleep smiling to myself at the thought of the captain's reassurance that his ship would never sink. "Don't worry," he had said. "I haven't lost one yet." On the other hand, once the ship docked, my dream was over. In 1962, the Japanese government placed a tight restriction on spending, so that only businessmen and a handful of students were allowed to travel abroad. I, as a student, was permitted to purchase only a one-way ticket to America, and my spending allowance was $200 for my entire stay.