<Begin Segment 17>

MA: So you then came over first to Spokane, by yourself, is that right?

SE: Uh-huh.

MA: And you said the first weekend in March, in 1942. What were you thinking when you first arrived in Spokane and you were alone?

SE: Well, it's interesting, I am, I took a room at a downtown hotel, and I had a friend, Miyo Migaki, and so in order to get to her place, I needed a ride, and so I called the Yuasa family, who lived, lived across the street from the Migakis. And right away they came down and got me at the, at the hotel.

MA: So how long did you stay at the hotel? Was it a couple nights?

SE: I never slept a night. Immediately, the lady said, "You don't stay in a place like that," and she said, they were all daughters, she had daughters, so she said, "You could stay here." And I stayed with them 'til I found permanent housework.

MA: What were your first impressions of Spokane?

SE: Well, I knew many of the people from the different church conferences that I'd been to. And then with Dad having the hotel and having open hotel for people from Spokane, Yakima, and Wapato, he always opened the hotel for free lodging for them. So then when they had a baseball tournament in Seattle, well, they all came and stayed at the hotel, so I knew the young people here, so I felt at home here. I was very lucky, because of our connection with the people.

MA: Spokane's Japanese community seemed very, it's smaller than Seattle's.

SE: Oh, yeah. And they resented people coming from Seattle, because they were afraid that the government might move them, too. So they resented influx of Japanese, too many coming from Seattle. And so they wanted to discourage.

MA: What sort of things would they do to maybe discourage people from coming over, or how did they show their resentment, I guess?

SE: Well, first of all, being not friendly. Yeah, they were cold to them at church and things. But so many of them had stayed at our hotel and have known them, so I was lucky in that way. And so same with my folks, because they were able to go to church and felt like they belonged.

MA: I see. So you maybe felt a little more accepted, because you had known these people from before, but other people who had come over, maybe...

SE: Maybe didn't feel that way, uh-huh. I think they had a more difficult time. But that Mrs. Migaki was a very friendly, open-hearted person, and she would welcome everybody to their home, so when the WSU students would come to Spokane for weekends or something, her home was overflowing with young people that came to visit. And of course, it helped to have four daughters. [Laughs]

MA: What, what job did you end up doing in Spokane after you got here? What work did you find?

SE: I immediately found housework, because I felt, you know, at that time, when you come like that, you don't have a home, you don't have family, and working in a home, you feel safe. And then, and then I was at the employment agency, and I was sitting kind of discouraged. Because when I was trying to first find day work and things, people wanted to, "Was she checked with the FBI?" you know, was I cleared with the FBI and all those things. And I said, "I'm a citizen, I shouldn't have to be cleared by FBI." And, but there's a feeling inside that that isn't quite enough. [Laughs] But I was fortunate in that the lady from the employment agency was real good. She sent me to places that was very friendly, kind and friendly. But it was interesting, I was sitting there, I think it was a Saturday. Anyway, I was sitting there in the office kind of wondering what's going to happen with me, you know, and this lady brusquely walked in and said, "I need a maid, and I need one desperately, right now." And the girl says, "Well, there's one sitting right there." She come over to me and says, "My, you have tiny hands. Do you think you could do the work?" And I said, "I took care of my dad's hundred-room hotel," and she said, "Oh, yes. But can you cook?" That's when my face fell. "No, I'm afraid I can't cook." "You mean to tell me you don't know how to cook?" And I says, "No, but I cooked in my dad's home." But you know, that's different from a Caucasian home. And so she says, "If you could, if you were able to cook in your dad's home, you could cook in mine. We eat very simply. When can you start?" [Laughs] And so I, I started.

MA: And did you stay with that family?

SE: Uh-huh, until married Ed, married him right from her house.

MA: Wow. So you got to Spokane in March, the beginning of March, and then when did the rest of your family come over? You had talked about sponsoring them, or finding them jobs. When was it that they were able to come over to Spokane?

SE: Just about at the deadline, I guess, 31st of March. But the Blairs' son was enlisting in the navy in Seattle, and so they said that he could pick up my sister. And so if, at least one of them, with his car. So I got in touch with my sister, and he took her directly to the home of the pediatrician. So they never had to go to a hotel or anything, they went straight. And then my other sister, I got her a job at the home of Eric Johnston, and she went there, too, directly.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.