<Begin Segment 10>

TI: 1934, after you graduated from Garfield, what did you do? What school did you go to?

TK: University of Washington.

TI: Now, was it pretty common for Niseis to go to the University of Washington?

TK: If they had the money. Like I told you in the car that I went to cannery two summers, and that paid for my tuition.

TI: And so when you say "had the money," so what was the tuition at University of Washington?

TK: Okay, the spring was... no, what is it? Oh, autumn was $30, winter was $30, spring was $35. At that time, even that was hard to get.

TI: Yeah, it's so funny --

TK: Because on top of that, you had to pay for your books and whatever laboratory things you had to have.

TI: And so for you to afford this, you said you went... and summertime you --

TK: I worked two summers at the cannery at Craig, Alaska. Thirty-five cents an hour. [Laughs]

TI: So describe that. So when you go to Alaska, how did you get to Alaska?

TK: Oh, at that time, the Japanese community had these contractors who would... I can't think of the name of the... they had about two or three contractors, and the Filipinos had their own contractors. They would, they would get workers together and send them up to these different canneries.

TI: And so they would recruit, like, a whole group and then...

TK: They would recruit maybe twenty per cannery, I would say, and send them up.

TI: And would this be like right after you finished school?

TK: Well, see, I think the Filipinos were already going up to the different canneries. Starting with Bristol Bay, working down, Bristol Bay would be the first season opening, and then the southern area would be last opening. So I worked in the southern area, which is the last openings during the summer.

TI: And when you were working at thirty-five cents an hour, what kind of things were you doing?

TK: Well, I was, we had a two-line cannery. That means the salmon cans would come down the line, and my job was to put these salmon cans into the trays before they were being cooked. So it was constant moving, that's how I got small hips. [Laughs]

TI: So all day, that's what you were doing.

TK: That was eight hours, yeah. But if there was overtime, it was... of course, we took shifts because you couldn't keep doing it all the time. The cans would come in maybe eight, and then you would transfer that to the trays for cooking, which would go into the retorts.

TI: And about how many weeks would you...

TK: It was only about, I think the salmon season was about six weeks, I think. Depending on the salmon season.

TI: And so when you were done with work and you're in Alaska with all these other men, what would you guys do?

TK: They play cards and stuff like that. We would be doing boxing.

TI: So any particular, any particular memories that were fond for you about Alaska?

TK: Not Alaska. [Laughs]

TI: Any hard memories about Alaska for you?

TK: Well, every night, you were able to take a big furo bath. They had hot steaming water, we couldn't go into that. One man would just jump right in, he was used to hot water.

TI: And so it was just too hot for you so you couldn't go in?

TK: Too hot for us, oh, yeah. Those furo was great big tubs, you know, and it would always be warmed from underneath by, I don't know how they did it.

TI: So when the men were up there, like, playing cards and stuff, was that for fun, or was it gambling?

TK: Well, gambling, too.

TI: Now, would you do things like that, too?

TK: Well, some of my friends did, I'm sure.

TI: But you didn't do those kinds of things, you didn't gamble?

TK: Well, I had no money. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, so when you were working, they didn't pay you up there? I thought you would get the money...

TK: Not there, no. I think we got paid when we got back here. We had the... no, we didn't get paid at work.

TI: Interesting. Okay, so then you would...

TK: What you might call end of the season, we got paid down here at the contractor's office.

TI: So that was probably, for some men, good, so they wouldn't spend the money.

TK: Well, that was good, yes. That's right. Otherwise, some people just lost all their money coming back on the ship.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.