<Begin Segment 7>

TI: I'm curious, do you ever recall your father having problems getting paid eventually for things? Did he have to, like, just sort of give up on some debts because people couldn't pay? Do you ever recall...

HH: Oh, yes. About the time when it came to Depression time and everything, especially, farmers were not able to pay. But the Japanese system, Japanese way of doing things is that by New Year's, they want to have all the debts paid out, paid back. And so I remember around starting about maybe say September or October, my dad would sometimes say that he'll take all of us and we'll go visiting in the farmers' area. And I didn't know what was the reason for it, but whenever we went to the farmers' area, homes, they would welcome us there, but I didn't know the main reason for that until I found out later. Whenever we go, they would give us all kinds of vegetables, potatoes and carrots and whatever that they have growing there. And I said, gee, that's pretty good that you could get that, but that was so that they would pay whatever they can and then give you all the vegetables on top of it.

TI: So, because they couldn't pay with money, they would pay with produce.

HH: Yes, uh-huh. So over the years, they would have debts, and I know when my dad finally decided to, I think it was about 1938 or so that he decided... by that time, they had a special law that passed that drugstores had to be licensed, and so my dad was not able to get his license as a pharmacist. But he was not doing prescription-type medicines, you know, but anyway, he decided to close up the drugstore and went into the grocery store.

TI: Okay, so after years of running a drugstore in Tacoma, because of the law change, he had to close that down and go into groceries.

HH: Yes.

TI: But I'm curious, I wanted to go back to the farmers giving your dad all this produce. What did the family do with all this, these vegetables and produce? Did you guys eat it or did you do other things with it?

HH: Oh, yes, well, they gave you quite a bit of, like cabbages and whatever, and nappa, which is Chinese, they call it Chinese lettuce. But they would make a year's supply of green, pickled greens, tsukemono they call it.

TI: So your mother would do this with all the vegetables?

HH: Yes, uh-huh.

TI: Okay, that's good. And you mentioned that the farmers, especially during the Depression, had a hard time paying off their debts. How did that affect your father's business? Was that a really hard time for your father during the Depression?

HH: Well, it was a hard time for many, not even the farmers, but in the town, too. And I was surprised at my dad, in those days, I didn't even know that they had a regular promissory note, which is legal tender, more or less. But after the war, and when my father finally passed away, I found many promissory notes that I could have collected, but by that time, most of those, they were already passed away, and I didn't have the heart to ask the children. They were my friends and all that, also. But I did have a promissory note, but I did not exercise to collect from them.

TI: I'm curious, even though you didn't collect them, did you keep those?

HH: No, I did not keep any of it.

TI: So you just threw 'em away?

HH: Yes.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.