Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Seichi Hayashida Interview
Narrator: Seichi Hayashida
Interviewers: Alice Ito (primary), Sheri Nakashima (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: August 21, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-hseichi-01-0032

<Begin Segment 32>

AI: Well, as you were, as you were going toward the end of your stay in Minidoka, now, how, how did that end? Did you go out on another work release? On a permanent release or how...?

SH: I went out on a permanent release, yes.

AI: So, did you and your wife both go out on permanent release?

SH: Yeah, go out, went out on permanent release.

AI: When was that, and where did you go?

SH: I went to Caldwell, Idaho. And I had a farm to go to, before I ever left camp I knew, I didn't get interviewed but I, there was a job offers into camp and this farmer wanted two Japanese men to work for his farm. And so I said, "Well, I'd like to go." This other man, from Bellevue, Muts Hashiguchi, he and I and his wife, Mitzie, you know, real well. We went out together to this farm in Caldwell. He left a little earlier than I did. But I stayed there for four years and learned how to farm, and did all the tractor work. I didn't do much handwork. My sister stayed for a while and my wife worked weeding onions, and thinning beets. Muts did all the irrigating. But he came back to Seattle, so somebody else took his place. A man, a young Issei from, formerly from Oakland, he came and worked the rest of the summer and he relocated back to Oakland. He stayed in Caldwell for half the year and farmed, did farm work. That was good experience, working. And to get... I just didn't want to go back into camp.

AI: Right.

SH: With the farming, learning how to farm in those four years, my transition from going from being a farm worker to a farmer was very easy, because I learned how.

AI: So, it sounds like this was a different kind of farming than you had done before the war.

SH: Oh, entirely different from the kind of farm I did here in Seattle area. And big... and the crops are different than we raised, we never raised sugar beets here, we didn't raise dry onions here, we didn't raise seed crops here in Bellevue. So it was a different kind of farm, different methods, and a lot bigger area, lot bigger acreages. We had 10 acre farm and that was pretty good. Pretty good size, all one family could manage, but out there it was hundreds of acres you're talking about.

AI: So, you were on this permanent work leave, and at that time, were you hoping to go back to the Bellevue area?

SH: No.

AI: No. But you did go back to try and retrieve some of your property?

SH: Yes, yes, settle my property, and see what it was like. But I didn't intend to go back to farm there. After working out there in the farm, if I'm going to farm, I was gonna farm out there. And by accident I got into anything, nothing like farming, I got into bowling profession, bowling business.

AI: Now, how did that happen?

SH: You didn't know that I was a bowling proprietor?

AI: I had heard that.

SH: You had heard that...

AI: But I'd like to hear you tell the story.

SH: I had a... my, how I happened to get in there, was a good hakujin friend of mine, he had bought half interest in a bowling alley. It was more than he could handle, labor-wise and money-wise. And so he came to me when I was farming in July, in fact it was July 1st, I won't forget that, and he said, "Hey," he said, "how'd you like to go into business in town?" I said, "What kind of business?" I knew the man. I was bowling with him on the same team. He said, "Bowling." "Bowling," I said, "How come?" He said, "Well, Jim" -- this friend that we both knew -- he said, "he wants to sell out." He said, "I bought half already. I want you to buy the other half." He said, "I've got four, five friends" -- and these were hakujin friends -- "wanted to be my partner, willing to be my partner. But," he said, "I want you to be my partner." "Well," I said, "that's okay." I wasn't too happy with farming, I didn't have too good a farm land to farm. So I said, "Well, let me think about it. When do you have to know?" He says, "Tomorrow." "Tomorrow," I said, "Well, I'll talk to my wife about it and we'll see, I'll give you an answer tomorrow, one way or the other." So I asked her that night and she said, "Well, it's up to you. Whatever you want to do." And I said, "Okay, I think I'll try it, because I can't get a good farm," you know, it wasn't available, or I had to go all over, few acres here and it took a lot of my time moving around, moving equipment around. If I had a good hundred-acre farm someplace, in one place, I probably never would have gone into bowling business. But that led me into into this partnership. And then with a couple more partners we built a twenty, we built a, we had a twelve and then we made it, we built a brand new place and did twenty-four lanes, with partners. And so, I've been in the business of bowling until I retired here, couple years ago. Built that and built another one. I think it was two parties, two different groups that had bowling alley, and one in Seattle.

AI: You're speaking about Japanese Americans?

SH: Japanese American ownership of bowling. It was a profession that not too many Japanese ventured into as far as owning a business, proprietor. But as far as bowling, it's not as popular as it was at one time. But, you know going back twenty years ago, twenty-five years ago, bowling that was about the only thing that all Niseis could do. So I sold out my bowling, my interest in the house in '83, so '55 to '83 I was in the business. Then I retired, took off for six months and I got tired, nothing to do so I went, worked for another bowling alley. I worked couple days a week. Have been for the last several years. I've been considering maybe fully retiring, but it gives me something to do, especially since I got myself. If my wife was still alive we could take trips and stuff, like a lot of my friends do, but myself, I don't feel like it. And so, just to keep busy, really. If my health wasn't so good, you wouldn't... but it's better to be getting old, but your health is good, and then you can work. I mean, I'd rather be able to work than not be able to do anything, and be having to be waited on, you know. So lot of people that know me well say, "How come you're still working? Can't you retire?" I say, "Sure, I can retire, but I feel better when I'm doing something."

<End Segment 32> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.