Densho Digital Archive - George Yamada Interview (denshovh-ygeorge

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MA: So today is March 15th, and we're here at the Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, Washington. And today I'll be interviewing George Yamada, and Dana Hoshide is our cameraperson today. So George, thank you so much for coming down here.

GY: You're welcome.

MA: I wanted to start by asking you about your family background. Where was your father from in Japan?

GY: My dad was from Yamaguchi, somewhere close to Shimonoseki, which is on the very tip of the main, Honshu, main island.

MA: Closer to Fukuoka?

GY: Yeah, 'cause I remember seeing Koreans in white kimonos in that area, going to Shimonoseki prior to going into Korea, I guess.

MA: How did he end up in Spokane then?

GY: I really don't know. I think it was due to economic, farming for one, then he latched on to railroad, and he worked for Great Northern for thirty-eight years, I believe.

MA: Did he, so was most of his family back in Japan then, did they stay?

GY: He had a brother in Japan, no sisters, a brother. And I think he may have been killed in the military, I'm not sure which war, but I would assume it was World War II.

MA: And what about your mother? Where was she from?

GY: She was from Hokkaido. Could have been some connection, relatives, distant cousins, but my mother was from Hokkaido and her grandfather, I remember meeting the grandfather, grandmother, and her three sisters.

MA: Did you meet them in Japan?

GY: Pardon? Yes, when I went to visit back, 1929, 1930.

MA: And then do you know how she met your father?

GY: I think it was a picture wedding, what they call a shashin kekkon. I think that's what it was.

MA: Did your parents ever talk to you about that, or what gave you the clue that it was...

GY: I was never that curious as to -- [laughs] -- how they met. I guess my mother used to tell me it was shashin kekkon, but other than that, I'm not really certain how it all came about.

MA: You said that your father worked for the railroad. Did your mother work as well when she first came over?

GY: She did for a little while, off and on. Used to be a company called Alaska Junk Company, and she used to sew, make or sew bags, large, I don't know, 100-pound, 200-pound bags for whatever purpose they used those bags for, I don't know about that. I know she worked there from time to time.

MA: And did your parents share much with you about their experiences immigrating to the U.S. and settling in Spokane? Did they talk about that time?

GY: Yeah, my dad used to deliver vegetables in the wagon going up to the South Hill. And I guess this is something that my wife used to tell me. My mother used to talk to my, my wife, and my dad would convey his thoughts to my wife and I would hear from my wife. I never heard from my dad or mom, but wife used to tell me what my folks told her about their, when they used to live in -- well, not live in Spokane, but when they first started out, vegetables, delivering vegetables.

MA: So your father delivered vegetables, was this mostly to other Japanese homes?

GY: No, it was hakujin. It, whoever would buy vegetables during that period -- and this is before the, before the 1920s. I was born in '23, so you, I think it was in the turn of the century possibly. My mother was not here then, yet. He went back to Japan and married my mother then, but before all this took place, before I was born -- I was the firstborn -- he was doing farming work, I guess. Yeah, primarily farming.