<Begin Segment 30>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Even though your husband lived both in Seattle and California, why did you return to Seattle?

AT: No, that was, the reason why he lived in Seattle was because the family of Terao, they ran a store. A trading business. They didn't have enough people, but they had to pay if they hired people. If they hired their brother, well, they thought they could just send him to school and give him some allowance, so two of the older brothers were running the store. And, he came as the third one. He really couldn't go to school, and he had to help the store when it was busy. A brother left to take orders. The other brother couldn't manage the store alone. There was no store ran by Japanese, I heard. So, hiring Japanese, Japanese people would come to a Japanese store even if it was a little far. It was like that. Well, once in a while, the night school, no, no, he came because they said that they would send him to school, but he said that he couldn't go to school. So, to night school, he went to night school. But, it was back then, so he said about it, too. He said that he used mainly Japanese, not English. Japan, those many Japanese came back then. There were many people who worked at sawmills. That kind of people would come out on, say, Saturdays. They ordered Japanese items, and they sold them there, at the Terao's store. It was busy. But, if he complained about such things, they would just tell him off, and while doing that, he got sick of it. He told his brothers that he wanted to be independent, and he left for California. He had a friend there, so he was staying there in California for a while, and he started going to school, and he was doing such things. Then, he heard that a farmer needed a help, and his family was a farmer, so he said that he could go, and he went to give him a hand, sugar...su, sugar beet, that was, when they made it, yes, in California. He went there for the help, and they liked him, and he was asked if he wanted to be independent. "Say, about 3 acres, this Japanese man has it, but he is going back and he is wondering if anybody would buy it from him." So he said that he would buy it. When he told them that he didn't have the money, they said they would take care of the money. So they gave the land to him, and he became independent there, started working alone, he said. When he did it by himself, when he was in trouble, there were people to help each other, so they all came and helped him, he said. It was before the war broke out. It was before the war, and everything started going up. The prices went up. What he made that year, well, let's say supposedly, something that would sell for 5,000 yen was sold for 10,000 yen, I heard. Since he got the money, he decided to go home to find himself a bride, he said.

TY: Why did he return to Seattle? Why didn't you two go back to California together?

AT: Original, originally, his brothers were running business in Seattle, and he knew a lot of people there.

TY: Oh, that's why.

AT: He was also told that he could just stay here instead of going to California. His closest friend, Mr. Shibukawa, he was also here, and he had a house. My husband told him that he came here in such and such way, then he asked my husband, "Oh, where are you staying?" then my husband said, "I am staying at a hotel now," then he said, "If you stay in a hotel, there is a vacant room in my house." So we stayed at the house of Mr. Shibukawa, in a bed room, and he said that we could use another room like a kitchen and we could cook there, so we lived there for about a year and a half. Then we visited houses this time, and because he said that he wanted to be independent in the house, I said, "Oh, I want to do that, too," and he worked at the Mitsui Product. Then, at the Mitsui Product, he went every morning, and every morning, he went around saying, "Good morning!" He did not like that, so he kept saying that he was quitting soon. [Laughs] So he quit, and he went to a hakujin's company, then he didn't have to do it. So he quit and started working for the Frye. The Frye's company was with hakujin, and it was just that everybody said one good morning, right? So he worked there for a long time until he quit. Once he said, "I am quitting," but the boss came and said, "Sam, why are you quitting now? We will be in trouble if you quit now." He was told so. Well, he was doing something like a foreman. So he worked there for a while, then...

DG: What kind of company was the Frye?

AT: It was Mr. Frye's. It was a small company. But, it gradually grew bigger, that company.

DG: What did they sell?

AT: There, that, what, they made it. That was...cows and stuff, cows and stuff, they did this to all...

TY: Beef?

AT: Yeah, well, they sold it. Meat.

TY: What kind of work did your husband do there?

AT: Uh?

TY: What kind of department was he in, in that company?

AT: Oh, at the company, that was, well, what was it called? How many cows today, this, like this and that, how much per pound it was for this part, I don't know the name. This kind of place where they got meat. That was so many pounds to this place, so many pounds went to that place, he reported to the office. To the office. So he got the job. But, he didn't like the job again. Oh, no, he was working for the Mitsui Product before that. Because he was hired last, to everybody, when he went to the office in the morning, "Good morning!" He had to go to everybody's desk. He said he didn't like it, and he quit after three months. [Laughs]

DG: What year was it, when it happened.

AT: A long time ago.

DG: You said a long time ago, but when you came, ten, nineteen, um, you came in twenty, right?

AT: Hmm, I, I don't remember what year though.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.