<Begin Segment 8>

MA: So you said you would visit Seattle in the summers. What were your impressions of Seattle, being a bigger city?

SO: Well, I thought it was pretty big. [Laughs] My auntie lived on Yesler Avenue, and she used, she had... let me see, she had three children, so two girls and a boy. So we got along real well, and we used to go there, I think, about once a year, my dad used to drive us over.

MA: What do you remember about, I guess, the, sort of, Japanese community? I mean, I guess in Seattle it was so big.

SO: Uh-huh.

MA: Do you remember that at all?

SO: No, I don't remember that. I know, the only thing I remember is my dad used to take us to a variety store or confectionery store and we used to get those ice, you know, what do you call it? [Laughs] Kintoki.

MA: Like shaved ice?

SO: Yes, uh-huh, with the beans, black beans. I remember that real well, and I remember my auntie used to, every time we'd go she'd boil wieners, real thick wieners. [Laughs] And we would just love those. That's one thing I remembered about her. But they were, they were not Methodist, they were... what did they call it? They were... they were a special kind of a Buddhist, I don't know what... let's see, Nichiren. They were Nichiren. There's only two, a girl and a boy that's left from that family now, everybody else is passed away.

MA: Did you ever go to the Buddhist church with them, the Nichiren church?

SO: No, uh-uh, we never did.

MA: What were some of your hobbies when you were growing up?

SO: Well, I had, I took piano lessons. [Laughs]

MA: How did you get involved with the piano?

SO: Well, my dad loved music, and so I took piano lessons, my younger sister took piano lessons, Miyo took violin lessons, and my youngest sister Kimi took tap dancing lessons, so we were all, did something. And so he loved to sit on the sofa and listen. He wanted my sister and me to play, play something, you know, on the piano, he'd just sit there and just listen. He loved music. (...) I started when I was seven, and then I, when I was fourteen years old, that was when the Depression came and so I had to quit. And at that time, the lessons were a dollar and a quarter for an hour, but that won't even half cover it these days, I hear. So then I started to play piano for the church, and I've been playing ever since.

MA: Who was your piano teacher?

SO: Her name was Ms. Margaret Anderson, and she had, I don't know, what is it called? A lump in her back, she was very, you know, bent over like that, and she passed away quite a while ago. But she was, she was very strict and she would choose pieces that were not modern, but they were pretty difficult. Sometimes I wouldn't practice, and she would get irritated with me. But I'm glad I learned it.

MA: You said that you stopped taking lessons after the Depression, right?

SO: Uh-huh, yes.

MA: What were some other effects of the Depression that you felt maybe in your family, or that you witnessed?

SO: Well, I remember my dad used to say always to turn off the lights when you're not in the room, and other than that, we didn't feel the Depression very much. We had food all the time, and then on Christmastimes, my mom and dad would put presents on top of the dining room table, and they weren't much, they were, like paper dolls and things, and candy, and they weren't very much, but we really liked, we really appreciated it. It's not like what the children get these days. [Laughs]

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.