Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Fumiko Hayashida Interview
Narrator: Fumiko Hayashida
Interviewers: Lori Hoshino (primary), Alice Ito (secondary)
Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington
Date: March 16, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-hfumiko-01-0035

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LH: So, if I remember correctly, earlier in this interview you were saying that, back, right before the evacuation happened that you were busy getting the crops in. And and it was just getting ready to, the crop was just getting ready to come in, and then you were taken away to the internment camp.

FH: Uh-huh.

LH: And then when you returned, you were working on that same farm, trying to get it back to producing, and that's another two years. And, and so your family moved on to Mount Vernon and worked that land, even another two years.

FH: So, it was sad. Feel sorry for the menfolks.

LH: How did they, how did the men in your family cope with that?

FH: Oh, tough for him, I guess. First time we saw him crying.

LH: It was, would you say that that was sort of the final straw?

FH: So, so he applied at work at the Boeings. And he got job at the Boeings, and commuted from Bainbridge to Seattle one year. But he decided, by that time my children were getting older so, too many in the house so we had to, so we came here, stay here. And he commuted to, and he worked at Boeing for twenty-one years. He never worked for anyone else so, he was afraid he might get fired or, that Boeing was going on strike off and on, too.

LH: The Mount Vernon farming experience was, after that he just decided to give up strawberry farming altogether and move to Boeing?

FH: Just as well, he was getting older, too. It was quite a loss. Had to buy trucks, and tractors, and there's lot of equipments.

LH: What happened to that farm land on Bainbridge?

FH: We're selling it now. I mean we, we got fifty acres, we cut it into one acre lot, and almost, goes faster than we thought. I thought, "Gee I won't see it." But, thanks to them we had land so, it selling, it going pretty fast. I think we have about one or two lots left.

LH: So, is this, are you selling them as housing lots?

FH: Huh?

LH: Is it for housing? You're selling these lots?

FH: Yeah, probably homes.

LH: I see.

FH: There's a lot of homes up there now.

LH: So, how many strawberry farms are left on Bainbridge?

FH: I think there's only, Japanese, there's only one left... Suyematsu, Akio. I think he's the only one left now. Not many acres there but -- I don't know what kind of berries he plants but he still have the farm. There's some small farmers and Filipino left, but, I don't know. Not enough to open a cannery or anything.

<End Segment 35> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.