<Begin Segment 3>

AI: Well, now at some point, you didn't live in the hotel your whole childhood, is that right?

TI: Yes.

AI: You moved then?

TI: Then we moved to another smaller -- actually it was two-story home. And we rented out the upstairs rooms to single men. And I'm sure it was to help bring income. Our whole family actually ended up working at this one restaurant. In the summertime, we used to do dishwashing, and my sister used to baby-sit for the owner's child. So we were really related closely with that owner.

AI: Right. So your whole family was busy working to support the family...

TI: Yes.

AI: ...bring in some income?

TI: And because we were quite poor, we, each summer we used to go out on the berry farm quite early in life -- I used to go with my younger brother -- and we'd, we're strawberry picking, raspberry picking, and save enough money so that that was to be our clothing allowance for the year. So I never had a vacation. And I wondered about these other kids that had summer vacations. But this was part of our life, and so we just accepted it as a fact.

AI: Where were these farms where you did the berry picking during the summer? Was that in Portland?

TI: Gresham. No, outside of... and I remember one time I rode my bicycle all the way out there. It was quite a ways at that time. And so we lived there, and we learned how to cook, ourselves, and manage our living. Because we were with other kids, it was just a fun time working together. [Laughs]

AI: So was this in elementary school that you started going out...

TI: Yes.

AI: ...to the berry farms...

TI: Yeah, uh-huh.

AI: ...and, you would stay there most of the summer then?

TI: Yeah.

AI: Well, that's a very young age to be away for such a long time.

TI: Yeah. It seemed that way, but other kids were doing it, so, you know, that's what, seemed very normal.

AI: Well, now was this mostly Japanese American kids out there?

TI: Yes, yes. It was a Japanese farmer, so...

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.