<Begin Segment 24>

JA: And did many of the farmers, such as your father, be willing to take that day off, the one day off during their, the busy time of the year?

MH: Their busy schedule? No, they wouldn't take time off. That's one thing farmers are, they just work, work, work during that time to make ends meet. They have to work or they'll lose that crop or something like that, so they were always working.

JA: So were you one of the few families from Bellevue that would go to Seattle on the Fourth of July?

MH: No, the other, other people went, too. Their, they had older brothers, older sisters, that can drive and could take them into town, is what it was. So it was a little different. See, we didn't have anybody older, that's me, and that made a big, big difference.

JA: Oh, I see. So you're saying the Issei would largely continue to work, but the --

MH: Niseis had their own transportation because they had older sisters and brothers.

JA: Okay. So they were given time off.

MH: So that was more for young people's entertainment that we go in...

JA: But they were allowed time off from the farm.

MH: That's right, too.

JA: Okay, so, but again that was another opportunity for them to intermingle...

MH: That's right.

JA: ...and to make social contacts.

MH: That's right, with the Seattle people and everything, yes. Very good.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.