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MN: How much English did you speak when you came back to the States?

HM: I couldn't speak a word. I came over, I was eighteen years old, and I did not know even ABC in English. Not at all. Not a word. Not even ABC. He had three kids. The eldest was at my age, and his name is Murakoshi, and the three boys were Akira, Yoshino and Hiroshi. The eldest was born in Japan and came over to the States. Back then, he could not easily go between the States and Japan as we can now. He called himself Shohei, he used my brother's name to come here. They made a false statement. The eldest son, Akira, made a false statement to the Immigration Department. He said, "I am Shohei Murohoshi." They asked the immigration interpreter, made a false statement and came to the States. The eldest son. From Japan. There were three family members, sons and parents. I didn't know a word of English.

MN: Did the kids teach you English?

HM: No, no, they didn't. The eldest son, all the other kids, the kids at my age were going to high school. They all went to school. I said I would like to, but they told me I was not allowed. Mr. Murakoshi said no. My parents back in Japan said no too. Because I am the eldest son, I had to work very hard, make money and go back to Japan as soon as possible. They said I was not allowed to go to school. I couldn't go to school. I went to a night school in the wintertime. The eldest son Akira drove me. To night school only in the wintertime, about three months or so. I couldn't go to school in the summertime because it was a busy season. My parents told me to come back to Japan soon because I am the eldest. They were abusive toward me, told me I was not allowed to go to school because I am the eldest, and told me to make money quickly and come back to Japan. But they tried to kill me, didn't they? They hated me. Now they were telling me to come back to Japan soon because I am the eldest. They told me to work hard. Doesn't make sense, does it? They were supposed to treat me well if I am the eldest son, weren't they? But they were trying to kill me. That doesn't make sense. They hated me.

MN: Were you bullied because you didn't speak English?

HM: Right. I didn't speak English. Not even ABC. Back then, Nisei girls just looked down upon me. They all really did. I wanted to go to school but was told not to. I was told to work. But they hated me. At the same time, they told me go back and take care of the parents as soon as possible because I was the eldest son. Take care of my parents and manage the household. They didn't make any sense, did they? They are out of their minds.

MN: You worked as a farmer for four years in San Leandro, didn't you?

HM: Yes.

MN: Then you became a gardener, right?

HM: Yes. I ran away from the Murakoshis' house after living there for four years, with Takeshi. Our pay was so low there. We made three hundred dollars between two of us for one year of work. We both ran away from the place. We ran away but didn't have any place to go to. [Inaudible] We walked all the way to San Jose. We slept under apple trees in a field in San Jose. I saw a white girl packing apples in crates. We asked her for some apples because we were hungry. She offered us some, gave us a lot of apples, because we were very hungry.

Then, we went to Watsonville. We hitchhiked. We didn't have a car. We hitchhiked and went to Watsonville. We didn't have a place to stay, we got there at night and we slept in a field at night, lettuce field. When we woke up in the morning, about twenty Filipino guys came to pick lettuce. They came in a truck, and they were all picking lettuce. They told us we could work there, and we did. We stayed at their boarding house in the evenings. They fed us. We stayed there for three weeks. We worked there. There were not a lot of jobs available. We didn't have anything to do in the field in the afternoon. Takeshi and I were in the field, it was a small one, and saw a Japanese guy was working there, in the lettuce field. We were working there and talking to the Japanese guy. Another Japanese guy came over, and that was the boss. He asked us what we were doing. We told him we came from over there, from San Leandro, and we were staying at the Filipino boardinghouse. He offered to hire us. "Where are you from?" "We are from Kanagawa." I told him we are from Numata in Okamoto and found out he was from Kanagawa too. I told him we are from Numata in Okamoto, My wife went to the same school. My sister went to elementary school in Okamoto. The boss's wife and my wife are at the same age and went to the same school, classmates. We left the Filipino boardinghouse and worked for him. We quit. We didn't have work in the winter, in the fall, and we went back to San Francisco and became a schoolboy. We did.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.