<Begin Segment 6>

TI: So, so I'm going to switch gears a little bit and talk more about your family now. Tell me about your mother. What was she like?

FK: Oh, she was a, to me, she was very intelligent, and she worked hard. She was a very, she was an excellent cook, so I never was, cooked at home when I was young. But I learned a lot from her. And she went to, where they taught English, she tried to learn English, and then she also went to cooking class where this Japanese chef was teaching how to cook American type of food. I mean like roasting turkeys and making pies. So she went to all that, and then she used to, and then she, in those days, everybody canned everything, remember? I mean, you won't remember, but we couldn't, we didn't buy things. Everything was made at home. And when, I remember the time, one time, when my dad bought this chicken, a live chicken, and we had... back of our shop, we had a little, where they kept, she kept the, they kept the firewood where the shed was. And there's a big block where he'd chop the, the wood. And he put this chicken there and chopped the head off. And the chicken was chopping, running around and I was so scared, and then my mother would sit there and pluck it and clean it up. They did all these things which we, we never had to do. It's amazing what the Isseis did, really. And I think a lot of 'em did that. But I actually saw that, too. [Laughs]

TI: Now, when the two of you would talk, would it be in Japanese?

FK: Uh-huh.

TI: And how was that in growing up? Because especially, I'm thinking, when you're, like, in junior high school and you're starting to grow up and you have all these questions. Did you have those conversations with your mother at that time, or what kind of communication did you have with your mom?

FK: Oh, it was, it was just, most of the time it was about family and, or anything that we had to do. But she was very, especially when I was going to Japanese school, she, she helped me a lot. Because she was pretty intelligent, and then she used to work, what she used to do is she used to work all day, which I could never do, and then, then she'd, after dinner, and she'd put all of, after we all went to bed, and then she'd relax and take a bath, and then she'd read. She read all kinds of things, then she'd read 'til one or two o'clock. She loved to read. And then she'd get up at six o'clock in the morning, and then get us off to school. But the Isseis were, I think they were very amazing.

TI: No, I agree. So, what about your father? What was your father like?

FK: Well, he was very quiet. He really didn't say too much, but he worked hard. He was just that Issei type of a man, I guess. But he really treated me well, I guess because I was the youngest, you know. I always remember that.

TI: And so how would that come about? When you say he treated you really nicely, I mean, sort of like spoil you or give you, like, extra things, or how would that show?

FK: No, not anything like that. It was just, just his actions and his, you know, towards me, talking to me and everything like that.

TI: So, and then your older brother, Sam, what was, what was he like?

FK: Oh, he was, he was the... how would I say it? He was nice, too, you know. He was a good brother. But one sad thing was he couldn't go to college because my dad passed away when I was fifteen, yeah. No, wait a minute, fourteen, fourteen, I think. And so my mother, after that, she had to sell the, you know, sell the shop, and she worked for someone else. So anyway, my brother knew that he couldn't go to college because, you know, in those days, it wasn't like here, you could go from home to the U. We had to go down to Corvallis or Eugene, and so you had that board and room problem, too. So he knew he couldn't go, so had, he worked since he was about eighteen years old. First he worked at the grocery store, you know, for these people, and then he stayed there and he made a living that way until evacuation.

TI: And so did he help support the family with his wages, too, or was it pretty much he was just trying to...

FK: No, he didn't have to support the family at that time because we had the business.

TI: But then after your father died, though, at that point, did he have to help?

FK: I'm sure he did. My mother, well, we, I never felt that I, I was poor or anything, because we always had food and I always had clothes, you know, she would sew for us. And so that part, I know we weren't rich or anything, we all, pretty poor compared to these days. But then we didn't feel that. I mean, I didn't.

TI: And then your older sister, what was she doing?

FK: Well, she was handicapped, so my mother more or less took care of her until she passed away.

TI: And so what, what kind of handicap did she have?

FK: Well, she was... how would I say it? Mentally so, you know. Is it a retardation...

TI: And so how, yeah, how did the community look upon that? Was that a difficult thing back then in terms of...

FK: Well, it was sort of difficult for me at that time. I shouldn't have been, but I accepted it, and I used to take care of her. We, I used to do things for her, and take care of her hair and things like that.

TI: And then you said she passed away?

FK: Yeah, she passed away soon after the war. But my mother took care of her all that time.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.