<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So, so back to your father and mother, so through arranged marriage they got together. What was the age difference between your father and mother?

HL: Six or seven years.

TI: Okay, so your father was older by six or seven years. So let's, so they, they get married.

HL: And then they came over.

TI: They came over. And what did they do when they came over?

HL: I know during the, every other summer my dad would work at the salmon cannery in Friday Harbor, but the salmon run was only good every other year, and the rest of the time he worked at this, it's a card, what do they, card parlor, I guess they'd call it. And he cooked and he did dishwashing, all that kind of thing. And then when I was about seven they bought a little hotel, housekeeping hotel, the Sprague Hotel, and then so they ran that --

TI: Okay, so before we go there, let's go back to Friday Harbor. So this is in the San Juan Islands.

HL: That's right.

TI: It's on, it's on San Juan Island.

HL: It's on the San Juan Island.

TI: Friday Harbor, and he worked there in a fish cannery?

HL: Yeah, salmon cannery.

TI: Salmon cannery. So what kind of work did he do there?

HL: Oh, they did, they filleted the salmon, and I used to go down and watch them. The salmon would come in and they would take the heads off. They would gut it and then they'd, it'd go down the, they'd skin it and all that and then they put it in the can and the cans would go into the oven. And that's one place where I learned that it doesn't make any difference what the brand is, the stuff inside's the same.

TI: Oh, so whatever label they put on doesn't really matter. [Laughs]

HL: Yeah, I remember because they would say, oh, we have so many cans of, that we have to put the Libby, so they kept, and they slapped the Libby... and then somebody else would order some other, they'd take the same salmon, put the different name on it. So when I go to the store I don't bother worrying about labels 'cause I figure it's the same thing inside.

TI: That's funny. What about your mother? What did she do in Friday Harbor?

HL: She cooked. She cooked for all the workers that were there. And so she cooked and my dad worked at the, down at the salmon cannery, and they did all kinds, everybody did all kinds of things down at the cannery. It wasn't a huge cannery. There were probably, I would say, I would say about thirty people working down there, thirty, forty people.

TI: And was it mostly Japanese or different?

HL: Mostly Japanese.

TI: And from Seattle, so people that he knew from Seattle?

HL: Well, see, the man that was the superintendent was a good friend of my dad's that came from the same prefecture, from Kagawa-ken, and so that was the reason my dad went, and I'm, they came into Seattle to recruit the workers and a lot of the men went in there for the summer because it's good money. They used to make good money that way.

TI: It's interesting, you say every other year. I didn't realize the salmon runs were every other year either.

HL: It was, the, no, you would have it every year, but then every other year would be a big run, and then the years that they had small runs, then the local people just took care of it so that they didn't go out and hire a lot of people.

TI: Now, when your parents worked there, do you have any childhood memories of Friday Harbor?

HL: Oh yeah, we used to run all over the island, and we used to go up to my friend's place, and they had, like trees and, fruit trees and all that. We used to climb it, and I remember one time I got up in the tree and, it was a plum tree and I got the plums, then I didn't know what to do with it. I had it in my hand, but I needed my hand to climb down. So finally I decided to take my stockings off and put it in that. And so I brought the plums down in my stocking. Nobody would eat it. [Laugh]

TI: That's a good story. I forgot to ask about siblings, so let's talk about your siblings.

HL: Okay, my, I had an older sister and a younger brother.

TI: And your older sister was how much older?

HL: Well, let's see, she's three years older and my brother was four years younger.

TI: Okay, so, and your older sister's name was?

HL: Martha.

TI: And what was her Japanese name?

HL: Masako.

TI: And so she was born, like, 1920, around 1920?

HL: 1920.

TI: And then your younger brother, who's my father, was Junichi.

HL: [Laughs] Junichi Victor. He was born in 1927. I remember when he was born. He was born at home, and I looked at him, I thought, what an ugly thing a baby is, 'cause they're all red and wrinkly. And of course, I was about four years old and I looked at that thing, I thought, this ugly thing. [Laughs] That's the first thing I remember about your, about my brother, that was, that he was ugly.

TI: [Laughs] Now, what was it like having, I mean, did your parents want a boy? Was it important to have a boy? They had two girls. Did it matter to them whether --

HL: Oh yeah, a boy is always important in a Japanese family 'cause after all carrying on the family name is the important thing, and so they were glad when the boy came along.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.