<Begin Segment 4>

DG: Well, mainly it seems like all of the pioneers were entrepreneurial, right, and always looking for a better opportunity. Why do you think so many people got into the hotel business?

ET: You're asking? Well, for -- in my case we didn't have much money. Of course, that was after the war though, and you didn't have to have -- I mean, my mother and father could run it. You didn't have to have knowledge of English, all you say is how much is the rent and that's all you have to say. And anybody could learn how to run a hotel.

TH: You didn't have to... you didn't need experience. Something that was easy to operate.

DG: And you didn't even need the language.

TH: In his case it's different. You needed language downtown, but if you were in the International District or Japanese Town or Chinatown or skid row, I think you could have gotten by without English. Isn't that right?

YM: Yeah. My folks, they didn't have any knowledge about English language. It's a wonder they got through, but especially my mother didn't speak very much at all.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.