<Begin Segment 4>

MN: Can you tell us a little about your parents' farm? Like how many acres was it?

AI: I don't know. I was only eight years old or so. Probably somewhere in twenty to forty acres that area was.

MN: Were there tractors at the time or was it all horse?

AI: No, no tractors, horse.

MN: What about your mother, what did she do?

AI: She work in the field, just like all the Japanese farm.

MN: And your mother also did the cooking?

AI: You know, dinner she did. But the breakfast and lunch my father did.

MN: What did your father cook for breakfast and lunch?

AI: I have no idea. I don't remember.

MN: What do you remember of your mother's cooking?

AI: I don't remember.

MN: Do you remember if it was Japanese food or American?

AI: Yes, definitely.

MN: So you had rice and shoyu?

AI: Yes.

MN: Did your father like to drink?

AI: Oh, yeah. He'd brew his own sake.

MN: How did he brew the sake?

AI: With rice and kouji.

MN: And where did he store this?

AI: There's a little dark area in the house, storage area. That's why he used to cook breakfast and lunch because he could come home and have that cup of drink.

MN: Did either of your parents smoke?

AI: I can't remember, I don't think so.

MN: Were your parents involved with the Hiroshima Kenjinkai?

AI: He might. But for me, no idea.

MN: At that age do you remember going to any of the picnics, the Hiroshima Kenjinkai picnics?

AI: No, I don't remember.

MN: Now your house had a lot of guests stay over a short time and then leave. Who were these people and why did they come over to your parents' house?

AI: Well, all these people, my house was like central station. People that walked from Mexico, they stop at our house because it's between central Cal and south so it's a good stop place. Then my father provide them with, if they need cash, he'll provide them cash then he sent them to where ever they wanted to go. So they all came by there because my father had experienced his own, he'd walk in, so in that case he was very generous to people.

MN: Now around 1927 or '28 your father bought a car. Can you share with us about this car?

AI: Yeah, the car name I can remember says called that Oakland. Up to that point most of the car we had was canvas top, open on the side. Well, this car is all boxed in with the glass windows so it was something new to us and we were so proud of it. First when he brought the car home we asked him to take us to drive, I remember that.

MN: Now was this a brand new car?

AI: No, it's not a brand new car. It's a used car but still different from everybody the car they had because it's closed in.

MN: So you asked your father to take you for a ride. Where did he take you?

AI: I can't remember. He just drove around the ranch area.

MN: Did your family go on drives on the weekends?

AI: We used to go to, yeah, I remember that, we used to go to downtown L.A., the so-called Little Tokyo now on the weekends.

MN: What did you call it back then?

AI: I don't know but I know a lot of Japanese gathered. We had funeral, whatever, weddings was all done here in the Little Tokyo area.

MN: Now since your folks lived near the ocean, did your parents go fishing?

AI: He loved the fishing. He used to go fishing, he used to go octopus hunting out in the... I remember that now that Palos Verdes area there's a road going off the cliff down to the bottom. And when I came back and returned to L.A. area I saw that and I says, oh, there that road is I remember that, still there.

MN: So were you to eat a lot of octopus and what kind of fish did your parents...

AI: Those days a lot of mackerel, plentiful mackerel then.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.