<Begin Segment 5>

TI: So tell me a little bit about what the Japanese community was like in Bellevue during this time. So you're... it was like...

BH: We didn't have any special place. We just walked, everything was walking in those days. And we'd go visit our friends, but they were all a distance away. But the Takizakis lived right close to us.

TI: Now, describe where you lived in Bellevue.

BH: Bellevue, right now is where Bellevue parking lot is, we lived on that corner. This corner and the parking lot's over on this side. So I think it's First Avenue.

TI: So the parking lot to Bell Square? That parking lot?

BH: Uh-huh, yes. Just kitty-corner from the northwest corner.

TI: Okay, northwest...

BH: There was farm there.

TI: That's amazing. Just within a block or so from the current Bellevue Square, which is a large shopping mall.

BH: Yes. Of course, I don't know how far, maybe it was city blocks, I don't know how many. In those days, they didn't have any blocks. [Laughs]

TI: And during that time, do you know if your parents owned the land, or were they leasing it?

BH: No, we had to lease it. Fortunately, we had a very nice, people that used to lease it to us. And I remember we lived in a log cabin, that was quite, it's about a mile north of where we lived.

TI: So explain that again. You said you lived in a log cabin?

BH: Uh-huh, my brother was, I think, born there at the time. It was about a mile north of where we lived.

TI: So describe the log cabin for me. How large was it, what did it look like?

BH: It was made out of logs, and they had, I don't know what they had in between, but I remember we were cold because wind would come through those cracks, you know, between the logs.

TI: Now, do you know who made the log cabin?

BH: No, I have no idea.

TI: And what kind of farming did your family...

BH: We didn't do much there, but mostly strawberries. I don't know what they did at that time, but after that we moved and went to a better place where Lakeview is now. Bellevue's richest place right now, we had a better farm there. And that was just before the accident.

TI: So when you moved to Lakeview, how large were these farms? How large was your farm?

BH: Oh, I think it was like three acres or something, I don't know. But as a child, not interested in those things. [Laughs]

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.