<Begin Segment 11>

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

TI: And so, what did people do for socialization? At some point, you guys had fun...

SA: I tell you what, we just worked. Summer time, I'm telling you. And then the only thing that they had was the picnic at the Kokkaido. And then there was the Japanese school (next to the Kokkaido). And it was (...) in the woods, we'd lay out our blanket, it'd be underneath the trees (...). They would have races. And (...) cracking the watermelon. And that was what we did, that was the big thing. But hardly no socialization, because of the fact that the farmers worked, worked, worked.

TI: So was your sense that the people, the Japanese in Seattle, had a much easier life? That they had much more time to socialize?

SA: Oh definitely, I'm sure they did. (...)

SP: So now you mentioned that you went and worked as a live-in nanny. I'm curious what was happening to some of your other siblings, like your sisters. Did they also go and live somewhere else and work?

SA: They, too. Because they (also did) housework at homes in Medina. And you have to remember that in Bellevue and for the Seattle people, too, as well, you couldn't even get a job in American department store. No department store, like even Penney's, or even a drugstore, they would hire a Japanese American.

SP: So the mood at that time was very hostile.

SA: That was how it was. (A) lot of my friends all worked as live-in nannies. And then after I graduated from high school, I went to Seattle and I worked for a doctor's family and I typed manuscripts (while attending) University of Washington for one year. (...) I didn't have any money (and) I had to help my parents out. Whatever money I made, I had to give most of it to my parents. And so, my sisters did, too. (Further schooling was out of the question.)

SP: How long did it take to rebuild their farm and their land?

SA: Oh, I think that it took them quite a long time. They used to hire people, too. In fact, they even called for some cousins from Japan (to help out). (Their) home was bombed in Yokohama. (My father's) sister (had) two children that were born in the United States, they were citizens and they were able to come back. And my father thought (he) could use them to work on the farm. But they didn't work out too well, because they were, you know, teenagers and they were city boys. It (...) was a mistake really (to send for them).

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