<Begin Segment 34>

TI: But so I want to now go back, so you came, first boat, you found the house, and your, the second boat is coming. Talk about the reunion with the family.

FS: I don't know, I didn't go to meet 'em. [Laughs] All I waited was at his house and they came. So a lot of people went to the harbor again, to meet the second half, then they came back together. But me, I didn't know what the hell was going on in Japan, I didn't know from next door to this door. If I go someplace on my own, I'm going to get lost. So I said, "If I stay here, they have to come here," right? And that's what I did. So I couldn't move out of my dad's place. So I was under the care of my dad's business partner. So he fed me good; he fed me canned food. You ever taste that whale meat that's tsukudani, it's barbecued? Oh, that's wonderful meat, whale meat. It's not the white meat, it's dark meat. Number one food. And I had that and I had some other kind of food. He'd been hoarding this all that time in Japan, never ate it. He didn't expect me to come, but he thought for a rainy day, you know. And then he had white rice, everybody else, it was not even rice. They were eating sweet potato, mugi, mixed. And white rice, oh, my goodness. I didn't know the difference. I just took it for granted.

TI: And he knew that your father was going to come, so was he --

FS: He didn't know either until I told him.

TI: Right, but then now that he knew, was he making special preparations for your father and others --

FS: Nothing, what could he do? He took care of the farm for about how many years? All the time that my father was -- he went back to Japan in '36 or '37, so he'd been there since then. So all the improvement, all the, anything bad or good was his doing.

TI: Okay. So why don't you describe when your family finally came to the house, what was that like?

FS: Well, it was like I told my brother, "Hi, Hank. How you been? How was the trip?" I mean, nothing else to talk about. I mean, there was nothing in between that we can say, you know, this place, that place. I didn't know, "How was your trip?" because the trip was bad. I know they were both seasick, all of 'em. So that was the end of that story. And how they got back here, I don't know. They had arranged something. And every arrangement, this, Yamane Tokio arranged our train. I don't know how the other people went home.

TI: Well, when you first saw your parents and your brother, did you notice any changes? Did they look different in any way?

FS: No, no. No, it's only about a year, huh? Year separation. I don't think my dad got any older, I don't think my mom got any meaner, and I don't think my brother got any nuisance. [Laughs]

TI: Do you recall any conversations or words that your father said to you or your mother said?

FS: Well, Japanese people are not that close in words, you know? My mother never said, "I love you," to me, never. And I never saw them make exchange, so I don't even know if they like each other or not. You know how Isseis are. And the only one is, I think I remember close was my brother. I says, "Hey, Hank, how was the trip?" So we got talking, but I didn't talk to my mother and father because they don't talk much, to me, anyway. So I found more from my brother.

TI: And was there anything that your brother said that you remember kind of as a strong memory, like at Tule Lake or something that happened or the trip or anything?

FS: No. They didn't ask him if he wanted to stay, not on his train. And then once he got on the boat, same treatment we got. But then I wasn't there, so my brother was too young to work, and my dad, I don't know what he was doing, and he was in Bismarck. So from Bismarck, they came to Portland and then Tule Lake people came to Portland, so that's how Bismarck, and... and then some people, family people from Santa Fe came. So there was three groups, let's see, Bismarck...

TI: Or Crystal City.

FS: Crystal City, Tule Lake, and Santa Fe. So all the remaining people got on the second boat.

TI: And that was the Gripsholm?

FS: No, no, that was the General Gordon.

TI: The Gordon.

FS: SS Gordon, name of the boat. Same kind of boat that we were on, twenty thousand ton military transport. Big boat, gee it was big.

<End Segment 34> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.