<Begin Segment 7>

AI: [Eng.] Where did you land in America? Did you come to Seattle first?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

AI: [Eng.] And then what happened when you got to Seattle?

MK: [Eng.] Oh... lonely.

AI: [Eng.] And you had to stay in the immigration station?

MK: [Eng.] Immigration, yes.

AI: [Jpn.] Immigration office?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, one night, uh-huh.

AI: [Eng.] And what -- let's see. I think you told us before your father had to leave --

MK: [Eng.] No, that's, I leave...

AI: [Eng.] -- he, your father had to go back to the greenhouse?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

AI: [Eng.] Can you tell us what happened when he had to go back?

MK: [Eng.] Oh, because greenhouse need you know, bee. Because cucum -- they raise cucumber. Cucumber need, you know, what can I say --

TY: [Jpn.] You can speak in Japanese.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, need a bee. That's a bee, run away that time. That's why, you know, I waiting, waiting nobody pick me up. So, pretty soon, I'm cry. [Laughs] Then, maybe four hour later, you know, pick me up. Because they gonna follow, you know, bee, then catch 'em, then bring back, that's why take a long time. Yeah.

AI: [To Tomoyo] [Eng.] Could you have her repeat in Japanese?

TY: [To Marian] [Jpn.] Can you repeat what you said in Japanese? After arriving in the U.S., you went to the immigration office and had papers checked, didn't you?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Can you explain again in Japanese why your father had to go to the greenhouse?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. That greenhouse...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes?

MK: [Jpn.] Cucumber. They were growing only cucumbers.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] The cucumbers need bees. But the bees escaped and so everybody had to chase the bees.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So it took some time to catch those bees and put them back, I think. So, I wait so long time, yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] How many bees were there in the greenhouse?

MK: [Eng.] I think one box, or I think one box, I think. Lots of bees in there, so one I think enough.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, did all the bees escape?

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] All the bees from that box?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's bunch. One bunch.

TY: [Jpn.] Bunch?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, one bunch, gone, yeah. That's why they gonna follow, uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. How many people were working at that time in the greenhouse? Was the greenhouse owned by Akira?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, then wife --

TY: [Jpn.] Masa.

MK: [Eng.] Then two Japanese men, two men, working over there.

TY: [Jpn.] And your father.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] So five of them.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Then did those five people look for the bees?

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh, yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] So your father could not wait for you to finish immigration procedures --

MK: [Jpn.] Yes.

TY: [Jpn.] -- You were left alone.

MK: [Eng.] Yes.

TY: [Jpn.] So you just waited after the immigration procedure was over.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, that's right.

TY: [Jpn.] You said you stayed overnight, didn't you?

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Since you didn't know what else to do, you just stayed there overnight. You just waited there, didn't you? Without knowing how long.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes. That's right.

TY: [Jpn.] So did the immigration office offer to let you stay there?

MK: [Eng.] Well, that time, four or five, five, six, seven people, everybody going, you know. Somebody all pick 'em up, and then gone so. Only, I'm the only one stand up outside.

TY: [Jpn.] Then where did you stay that night? When nobody came to pick you up.

MK: [Jpn.] Immigration office..

TY: [Jpn.] At the immigration office.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] That is still there.

MK: [Jpn.] The immigration office is still here. Over there, don't you know?

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] I was allowed to stay there.

TY: [Jpn.] Was there anybody there with you? Did any of the workers stay with you? Or were you alone?

MK: [Jpn.] Alone.

TY: [Jpn.] That must have been really hard on you.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, I was very lonely.

TY: [Jpn.] I bet you were.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Didn't your father tell you when he would be back?

MK: [Jpn.] No. But my father was chasing the bees and was not coming back.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] You were told about that, weren't you?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] So did you know your father was chasing the bees?

MK: [Jpn.] No, not at all.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, really?

MK: [Jpn.] No, no. I found out later.

TY: [Jpn.] Then you were waiting there without knowing when he would show up.

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, that's right. Yeah, uh-huh, yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] What were you thinking while waiting?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, I didn't think about anything. Just, "I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble." [Laughs]

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

AI: [Eng.] So, then when your father came to get you, and you came -- he took you back to --

MK: [Eng.] Then, my uncle, auntie. They are same house, live in same house.

AI: [Eng.] They lived together?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

AI: [Eng.] And was that in Sunnydale?

MK: [Eng.] No. South Park.

AI: [Eng.] South Park, I'm sorry.

MK: [Eng.] South Park, that's called South Park Greenhouse.

AI: [Eng.] With your aunt and uncle, and your father.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

AI: [Eng.] So then what was your first -- what did you think when you saw the South Park, the house and the greenhouse?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah, every day, I want to go home, I want to go home. That's the only way I think. I don't like, you know, I don't like working, too. I never working. Then you know, every time, you know, do this way and do that, and only I, I use only pin, that's all, then there, you know. Do you know cutting?

AI: [Eng.] Cutting?

MK: [Eng.] You know, if make starting cutting plant, cut, cut, then put sand, soil over here, then put line up, then lots, cut stuff, put 'em in, put 'em in sand, then one box, make one box, then lots water, then next one, make it that's, flower. Yeah.

AI: [Eng.] And that was your work?

MK: [Eng.] Yeah.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.