<Begin Segment 14>

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

TI: And so the Kokkaido, earlier you mentioned it was, was intact when you came back.

SA: It was intact.

TI: But you mentioned that you were surprised that it didn't burn down.

SA: Yes, I'm surprised because three families, the houses burned. And that was during the war, toward the end of the war, when they thought that we were going to return. Under suspicious circumstances, so...

TI: And so these were all Japanese, sort of, buildings? That were burned down, the three?

SA: Oh, yeah, homes. Homes. Mr. Matsuoka was the leader in the Japanese American community. He's the one that started all these programs, like the Seinenkai for the Niseis. So they had the basketball teams, gives us something to do because we certainly were not a part of the, of Bellevue, the white community (of Bellevue).

TI: Because earlier you mentioned that before the war there were over seventy families, and then only twelve came back. And before you came back, you know, these houses were burned down. I mean, so, was your father concerned about coming back to Bellevue? Was there some talk about --

SA: Well, there was no choice. You know the War Relocation Authority was the one that tells you where to go. And that's why we were given twenty-five dollars and it was hard on my dad because he had had the fields plowed (after our return). (The land was fallow). Not only that, he had to buy seeds. A lot of equipment was stolen. And we had no income because we couldn't farm during the winter months. And nothing could grow until maybe the spring season (...). This was why we had to go out and work, and the best I could do was as a live-in nanny at this home and I remember getting twenty dollars and I think fifteen I gave to my parents. My sisters did the same (but they worked full time). But you know, the jobs were not available to us.

TI: And how long did the family hold the farm before they sold it?

SA: We sold it in 1953. (Six families) all sold it collectively. Like the Hashiguchis, the Takeshita/Hashiguchi, our neighbor (...). The Aramakis, (...) the Itos, (etcetera). We all sold it at the same time; (...) it became the Safeway Distribution Center. But, and I understand some of it was part of the railroad system, too. Because the railroad went right by our farm. The Great Northern Railway.

TI: And so describe how six families, all farmers, decide to sell at the same time.

SA: Oh yeah, it was one real estate...

TI: I mean, there must have been some incentive for you guys to sell?

SA: It was 1953 and I think that we were all ready. My father was already (getting old), you know, we girls just didn't want to farm. And the Hashiguchis, I don't think they (...) wanted to (continue to) farm. And then Akira Aramaki, our neighbor, was going into real estate (...). (Our farms were small, 10 to 13 acres.) I think we were all ready to cease farming. Like my father was the last of the immigrant farmers, so that was that. And a lot of the Niseis had taken over. In the Ito family, (they had taken) over the farms, whereas my father, I think that it was getting difficult for him, being Issei, too.

TI: And so when the six families decided to sell like this, do you guys decide to sell as a group?

SA: No, individually.

TI: So explain that. How did that work?

SA: Well, it was individually, though, I think that the liaison person was Mr. Matsuoka, who had international real estate at the time. He was (the) liaison (person and) individually, he came with the representative. And I don't really remember because I was no longer living at home. (...) In 1953, I was married (...). And I was already twenty-four years old. And my father (was) an Issei, (but) by that time he had gotten his citizenship, so he was able to do the legal work.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.