Interviews

1. Father retouching photos of picture brides

2. Getting married

3. Possibility of being adopted by aunt

4. Day Pearl Harbor was bombed

5. Working in the pineapple fields

6. Tree planting

Jean Hayashi Ariyoshi

Former First Lady of Hawai'i

Getting married

And when we got engaged, it was very interesting because George's parents came over. We had a baishakunin, you know, like a go-between, both sides. And they came with a huge red fish and an envelope with money in it, and they asked for my hand in marriage. And it was on my birthday. And it was something very new to me because my parents were very Americanized—my mother was born here in Hawaii. And it wasn't until I married into his family did I really learn a lot of the Japanese traditions.

His family was a very traditional family. And we ate soba, you know, on New Year's Eve. We had ozoni, on New Year's Day. And we decorated our front door with those good luck leaves. And the first person into the home was supposed to be a male, not a female, because female meant bad luck. And so I learned all of this from living with George's family.

families traditions

Date: December 15, 2003

Location: Hawai`i, US

Interviewer: Lisa Itagaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.

Interviewee Bio

Jean (Hayashi) Ariyoshi, who holds a B.A. in speech and a B.S. in math from the University of Hawai`i, met her future husband George Ariyoshi while earning her teaching credential and serving as a speech instructor. She also hosted a weekly television talent show. They married in 1955, a year after his election as a Democrat to the Hawai`i Territorial House.

Heavily involved in charitable and community causes during her husband’s tenure as Hawai’i’s governor between 1974 and 1986, she established the First Lady’s Volunteer Awards to honor Hawaii’s outstanding volunteers annually. After the end of her duties as first lady, she became a domestic and international philanthropic figure. (December 2003)

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