<Begin Segment 2>

TI: So next I want to talk about your father, so can you tell me your father's name and where he was, where he's from?

JM: My father's name is Uichi, U-I-C-H-I, Matsuda. And he had a farm, maybe out in the country... No, no, no. Inado, where the air base was. Shindenbaru ka. Oh, Shindenbaru. Shindenbaru, it's a, he had a farm out there.

TI: And this is, like, in Fukuoka ken or...

JM: Yeah, it's in Fukuoka ken.

TI: Good. And, and can you tell me why he decided to leave Japan?

JM: Well, the way I hear is that that time the first generations, they were coming to America and they said, "Hey, we can make money and after we get rich, then we can go back to Japan," and so I guess they all followed that voice, thought, oh, that's good. But the way I looked at it when I start growin' up, they couldn't speak much English, they must've had a tough time.

TI: And do you know about how old he was when he came?

JM: Oh, he was still young yet. Gee, he must've been thirty-something years old because he used to use the horses and everything, get the saddle and everything. And the food, too, he used to carry that hundred pound bag and bring it to the barn and everything.

TI: So when he first came to the United States, where did he go first?

JM: He was a place where, well, I guess he wanted to farm, so the friend of ours -- I guess you heard, too, that Yasui was the father -- not Min -- he found us the land that we can lease, and that was a small place called Viento. Right now it's by the Columbia River and it's a very, very popular place because the wind, the breeze comes in real good, so a lot of windsurfers go there in the summertime.

TI: Yeah, it's a world class windsurfing place there.

JM: Yeah. Yes, right there it is.

TI: And so your father, this is the Hood River area.

JM: Yes, yes.

TI: And you mentioned a Yasui. This is Min Yasui's father.

JM: Yeah.

TI: Was there a family connection between the Yasuis and the Matsudas?

JM: No, I think he must've known that people from the, coming from Japan that, since he was a lawyer and thing like, that help out everything, because my parents didn't know English at all that time.

TI: And so what, what kind of farming did your...

JM: Vegetable. Asparagus, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and what else was there?

TI: And how did, or who did he sell the produce to?

JM: The produce was that we, every weekend, that, our family and everybody -- and we had people working for us, too, Japanese laborer and the Filipino -- and we'll put, on the weekend, pack it into boxes and my dad had a two ton truck, we'd load it on that on the weekend and bring it to the Portland market. We leave in the nighttime and wait 'til the doors open, then we'd drive the truck in the building and then that's when they start selling.

TI: And so Portland had, like a farmers' market?

JM: Yeah, yeah, it's more like a farmers' market and everything. Yeah.

SF: Was that Japanese-run, Jimmie, the market?

JM: No, no. Yeah, anybody, Italians and everybody, anybody could go in there.

TI: Good. And let's talk a little bit about your mother now. So what was your mother's name and where was she from?

JM: Mother's name, Hatsu. Hatsue. Hatsue, and her maiden name would be Dantani. That was my uncle's name.

TI: And where did she grow up?

JM: She grew up... [address off camera]

Off camera: Inado.

JM: Inado. Oh, okay. Inado.

Off camera: But Shindenbaru.

JM: Shindenbaru, Inado. Yeah.

TI: And what kind of work did her family do?

JM: I don't know about that, and she didn't know it either, but their relatives are all wealthy people. They had sawmills and everything in Japan, too.

TI: And so, for your mother, education-wise, how much schooling did she have?

JM: I think they barely finished seventh grade before they came over here.

TI: So how did your mother and father meet?

JM: I guess they were married. [Laughs] I... yeah. The, it's, in Japan you have certain villages and everything, so they all know each other and it's the same group there and they met.

TI: Okay, and so they got married in Japan. So was your, did they come to the United States together, or did your father come to the United States first?

JM: No, they came together.

TI: Okay. And so they're in Hood River and they start having children. So let's talk about your siblings, and let's go down the list of the siblings.

JM: The big one or the...

TI: Yeah, from the first one all the way down.

JM: First one was my sister. Her name was Amy, Emiko. And the second one was Sadako. She's still living, surviving in Stockton. And the third one is Fumiko. Three girls, three sisters, and then my younger brother was Fred Mitsuru. That's his Japanese name, you know, Fred Mitsuru Matsuda. And then Billy, B-I-L-L-Y, Billy Kiyoshi Matsuda, and he was still, just gettin' ready to go to kindergarten that time.

TI: Okay, so there were six, six children.

JM: Yes.

TI: And Amy was the oldest?

JM: The oldest one, yes.

TI: And she was born about, what, 1920, '21?

JM: I guess. They were, she was going to high school, anyway.

TI: Yeah, so she was probably about six years older, six or seven?

JM: Yeah.

TI: And then Sadako, Fumiko, then you were fourth, and then... so it's three girls and then three boys.

JM: Yeah, three boys.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.