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AI: Well, when were you actually born? What's your birth date?

GY: April 9th, 1922.

AI: And what was the name given to you at birth? Was it George --

GY: My name was George, yeah. And I don't know whether they wanted to call me Joji or Joji came from George. But it was George. I have no Japanese middle name. George Yoshida. And was delivered through the, courtesy of Mrs. Shimomura, a midwife here in (Seattle), who delivered many, many babies, I'm sure. So I was born on my -- I don't think my bed, but at this address. And courtesy of these tender hands, Mrs. Shimomura.

And I suppose I received a lot of attention, being the first-born boy at that time. And life here in Seattle as a child was very, very -- a happy time, I think. A happy time, very happy because the gang was that -- made up of kids, this cul de sac block of Jacks -- Twelfth and, Twelfth Avenue and Main Street. Going up the hill westward toward the bay, the street was closed off, so it was a, kind of a nice block. Very little traffic going up and down the hill. The old Buddhist Church was at the, located at the top of the hill. And most of the houses on both sides of, of Main Street were occupied by Japanese families. I think majority, if not all. I think there was one house right across from our place where -- which was occupied by a black lady, a single person. And a Chinese family next to our house. Actually, it was not a house. It was a string of apartments, rather large apartment with maybe four apartments next to each other, two stories. In the back there was a coal bin and right next to the coal bin, I remember an icebox with ice that had to be put in every few days, and a little collector pan which collected the melted ice which had to be emptied. If we forgot, it'd be a large puddle there. And the front room, the living room, it's sort of a narrow living space. Living room, and the left-hand side with a piano. We had a piano there. And right there was a telephone, Prospect something. I still remember Prospect. And further down there's a bedroom, another bedroom and the bathroom, toilet there, and then the kitchen in back. Most of the activity was in the back in the kitchen, of course.

Let's see. Downstairs in the basement was the Japanese Congregational Church. I say the -- my childhood was a very happy one in fact because it was somewhat bounded by the street and the hill and top, the church. And it was a cul de sac, very little traffic. Our playground was the street, which was a dirt street, some gravel on top. And those days were really wonderful because in comparison to today, where my grandchildren are standing there with their little handheld games and just sitting there, standing there or at the TV set. All these chit-chit, and all this -- the noise, burning cars, people killing each other (on TV) and so forth. It, we didn't have any of that. We played together, a lot of laughs. I'm sure we agreed and argued and hit each other, kicked each other and cried, went home crying and dirty and so forth, but it was happy, happy times.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.