<Begin Segment 37>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: You moved to the Union Hotel that Mr. Terao's brother was managing after you stayed at the Fuji Hotel for two nights, but how long did you live there?

AT: Less than a year...It hadn't been a year. We found a place, we had to live somewhere we could cook, right? We found a place, and we went there to live. We lived in 721 Yesler Way soon after that. There, twelve, twelve, thirteen, about fifteen rooms that they were renting. Those, I watched. I changed the sheets once a week, and I did that, and there, I received the room rent. That was my allowance. I did such things.

TY: That is, that came much later on, right?

AT: Huh?

TY: That was after your children grew up, right?

AT: Well, something like that. They were already going to school.

TY: Yes. I heard that you bought a house on three, 309 Boren, Boren, then, you bought it using your children's name since Issei couldn't own properties.

AT: Yes. We used the oldest daughter's name, we used Fusako's name even though she wasn't old enough yet, but somebody who took care of it told us not to worry, and he said if something would go wrong, he was going to sign for us. There was no trouble. We bought it by using Fusako's name. She was still eighteen, I think. Maybe around seventeen. In this way, we bought a house.

TY: Since she was little, you used her name for many...

AT: Yeah. We bought many things. After she turned twenty, we switched the way and did it. It was fine. This was why we could buy a house early. Otherwise, we had to pay rent forever, and we thought that would be ridiculous. The house we bought on 309 Boren Avenue was the last house. We lived there for a long time.

TY: Did you know that Issei couldn't own properties when you were in Japan or did you find out after you came over here?

AT: What?

TY: Issei, the first generation of Japanese immigrants couldn't own properties, could they?

AT: Yeah, yeah. That was right after we came, I think.

TY: Oh, when the law was passed.

AT: Uh-huh, it was passed. Oh, let's see. I don't remember what month, things like that any more.

TY: What did you think about that?

AT: Not particularly because it had nothing to do with us, so we didn't care, we, we were immigrants, we came as the non-immigrants. We came with the passport of the non-immigrants that said the carriers were not immigrants. I still have the passport. My son has them all.

TY: Oh. Yes. In 1924, you must be talking about the law that banned the Japanese immigration.

AT: Yeah.

TY: Could non-immigrants enter this country in 1924?

AT: No, no, the same thing.

TY: The same thing...

AT: Nobody could come in. Exchange students had special passports to enter this country. But, people couldn't come in as immigrants any more.

TY: Then, you and your husbands really were one of the immigrants in the last several years, weren't you? There were laws that banned the Issei, Japanese to enter this country and to own properties, right? What did you think about the laws?

AT: What did I think about it, but it had nothing to do with me. But, I only felt things like it became harder to go back to Japan and come back again. At that time, my children needed to be cared, so I was just busy taking care of my children.

<End Segment 37> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.