<Begin Segment 11>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

TI: And so during this time period, after the Chinese restaurants started boycotting the store, did, during this period, were there differences in terms of how you got along with the Chinese Americans your age? Was there any kind of difference that happened?

SA: Well, some of them would call us names as I walked through. And I was astounded because they were friends of ours at school. But I guess it must go down as such, children must hear from their parents. So they would call us "Japs." It was kind of hard to realize that they weren't our friends anymore. But I thought my father coped very well in that time because then we started shipping to Alaska. (Why Alaska?) It's a strange thing, and the only thing I could think of was there is a book that was called Sushi and Sourdough written by Tooru Kanazawa. Well, his sister married my cousin, Johnny Tanagi, and in about the seventh chapter of the book, amazingly, I found this (description of) where the Tanagis were buried (in Japan), and it was in front of the house, and I saw it later when I visited Japan. But he wrote about a fellow, and the character in that book was Matajiro (or something like that). And I thought, when I got that scroll on (our) genealogy, I was tracking down the dates, and I thought, "Wow. About that time there was a fellow in the genealogy," and his name was close to that, I think. If it wasn't Matajiro, it was kind of close (to the one) in the book. And I thought -- (if) they went to Alaska, and he had married a yoshi, meaning (...) when he got married, he would assume the wife's name because there was no one (male child) to succeed (and carry on the family name). And he turned out to have gone to Alaska, and I thought, "Could it be?" 'Cause the Kanazawas were also in Alaska (...) and was that the connection, 'cause I used to wonder where did this (...) short, portly man that came down (to our grocery store come from), and he would order. And he had a restaurant in Ketchikan, (Alaska). Next thing I knew, we were shipping to Alaska, and it was to the restaurants, the Japanese restaurants. So we did (...) well, and we made (it through) the Depression years.

TI: So that was in the '30s that this happened.

SA: Uh-huh.

TI: How interesting.

SA: And I know all of a sudden we were packaging up all these big things, shoyu and miso, the Japanese things. And I wondered where they were going, and they were going (to Alaska), Mr. Kawamura's taking them down to the ships.

TI: And Alaska during the Depression was doing well because -- I'm trying to think of my history -- is that because of the gold rush at that time, or what was happening in Alaska?

SA: Well, they were in mining, too, but they were also in the canneries.

TI: Okay, right, right.

SA: And if you look at that book, Sushi and Sourdough, which is the Alaskan pioneer of Japanese ancestry and (a history) of the Japanese. They had a real difficult time because of the weather, too, you know. And I read that and I was just astounded. We thought we had it hard, they had it worse, I think.

TI: So your parents -- and I'm not sure if it was your father or your mother, I mean, they were very business-savvy. I mean, they --

SA: Well, amazingly, I don't know, except, you know, like for credit, when (Dad) put down who (...) owed him (money, he) would say, "A man with glasses." Well, that could be anyone. When my dad was taken, we started trying to track down money 'cause they froze the (bank) funds the minute he was taken. But you know, when I, I want to go back some, as I said, the biggest creditors to us, because my father couldn't collect, they gave us what they (could, like) from the Filipino owner. He gave us (his) only asset, which was a 1939 car. But nobody had cars, so that was wonderful. So my brother, at eighteen, had a car, and I think that really set him apart. But we had to sell that, of course, to get the money to evacuate. But then from the Japanese restaurant, and it wasn't named, but I keep wondering, it was on Main. I keep thinking it was the Maneki restaurant because we got the furnishings and they were quite elegant people, I always thought. And we got the marbletop table, the leather sofas, and our house was furnished -- I used to wonder how we got furniture like that. And it came from them as their only assets we could acquire. And of course, the Chinese, we were up trying to get our dollar a day if we could.

TI: So I'm curious -- I'm going to go back now to that time period, from 1925, 1929, when the store was doing well and probably the restaurants were doing well, what did your parents do with the excess cash? I mean, as, you mentioned two thousand dollars a month.

SA: Well, they put it in the bank. The Furuya Bank was the Japanese bank at the time, and they started early, I think. Because by the time 1905 rolled around, 1906 when he came, it was already in operation.

TI: Well, and at some point, that, didn't that bank fail?

SA: Yes, it did.

TI: And so did your parents have lots of money in that bank when that happened?

SA: (I don't know). Well, you know, as I said, 1929 started Depression years, so they were really hard up, too, I mean, as the cash dissolved. 'Cause I see in 1939, he had borrowed some money, seven hundred dollars. I don't know where --

TI: This is your father?

SA: My father. And up to then he was doing fine, I thought. But he must have paid it off, because in 1940 my mother went to Japan, her first trip back, because her father had died and her mother was (old). And she of course wanted to go. And she was lucky to get back 'cause the war broke out in '41. She was, I think (on) the last ship out. So (Dad) must have done all right recuperating (from losses), I think, from (the year), in the '39, (...) '41.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.