<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Yeah, so it sounds like your father... a lot depended on your father when he was running the business. And so for him to be taken away, he was worried about that.

SO: Yeah. And then he bought the, he bought two properties, now he had obligations, that there's a monthly note to pay for the property. And with all of that, he borrowed some money from some other friends that he had to return. So he really got worked up.

TI: Now all these properties and things like this, were these under your father's name as a Japanese immigrant, or did he put it under, say, your brother's name? How did that work?

SO: One property was under my oldest brother's name, and then the other property was on the two brothers. Then another property was my second brother. So all the notes has to be paid, so he was really worried.

TI: And so without your father, and especially in that first month when he was at the military camp, how did the family cope? How did you guys get by without your father? How did it work?

SO: We just managed whatever we can do. And then we didn't have too much of a grocery inventory to sell, but somehow we managed, scraping here and there.

TI: Like for you, you're about fourteen or fifteen years old. So what did you have to -- did you have to do extra work with your father gone?

SO: Well, I tried to plant the victory garden, plant vegetables, and tried to sell some vegetable. And that year when the volcano erupting... every time a volcano erupts, it's dry weather in Kona. So we had the hardest time planting vegetables without water, the rainfall. And there's no river in Kona, no stream. It's really hard for us.

TI: So who took charge of the family when your father's gone?

SO: Oh, my two older brothers and my mother.

TI: And so how well was the family coping when your father was gone? I mean, obviously it was hard, but was the family able to get by okay?

SO: Yeah, we tried to improve the business. And then making friends with all the salesmen and then they began giving us more merchandise, more groceries to sell. So we were fortunate that we got all the help, too.

TI: And so when you saw your father before he went to the mainland, I'm sure he wanted to know how things were going. And so what did your older brothers and mother tell your father?

SO: Oh, same thing, don't worry, we are managing. But knowing the situation, my father was really only half what was saying. He knows there's hardship going on.

TI: And so was your mother and older brothers maybe hiding some stuff from your father, maybe not telling him everything that was going bad, but just maybe the good things, or what do you think?

SO: Of course we were fortunate that everything was going smoothly, all the family was helping him.

TI: So maybe your father was worried more than he should have been?

SO: That's right.

TI: That it was actually, I mean, although it was really hard, things were, you were getting by. But you think that maybe he didn't think that, maybe he thought that it was harder than it really was?

SO: And again, when he was sent to the mainland, there were rumors that they'll be used for prisoner exchange. Again he was worried, because there's no place for him to go back in Japan. The family was all poor, he didn't know where to go, so he was really lost. And the biggest worry was about his family, you know, leaving eleven children with his wife. Just didn't know what to do.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.