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MN: Okay. Today is Wednesday, September 14, 2011. We are at the Oxnard home of Takashi and Molly Yamashita. We have Tani Ikeda on video tape and Molly Moriuchi Yamashita, I guess, here in the room, and we will be interviewing Takashi Yamashita, and I will be interviewing. My name is Martha Nakagawa. So Tak, I want to start with your father. When did your father come to the United States?

TY: Well, I can't give you the exact date, but I think around the year 1887 is what he told me.

MN: Do you know where he first landed?

TY: He first landed in Honolulu, Hawaii.

MN: What did he do there?

TY: He worked in a, he got a job in a sugar cane, sugar cane plantation.

MN: Where did he work?

TY: In the sugar cane plantation.

MN: Do you know he got signed up to work in Hawaii, the story?

TY: He got... I have to start prior to that.

MN: Okay.

TY: He was in the Russo-Japanese War when he was fourteen years old, and then he was there for a couple years, I think, he told me, and then he got a furlough to come home to see his parents, so-and-so. And then he told himself that he's never gonna go back to the Russian territory to fight for Japan, so then he decided he wanted to go someplace so he was wandering around in the town in Kagoshima, and at the employment agency he saw a sign saying "recruiting sugar cane cutters for the Hawaii, Hawaii sugar factory." So then he decided, "Oh, I think I want to get out of here and then go to Hawaii to cut sugar cane," so he went to cut sugar cane. I don't know exactly what year that was, but he cut sugar cane there for one or two years. I don't really, I don't exactly know how many years, but I think one or two years. And then he decided that's too hard of a work, so he says, "I'm gonna go to USA," so he told me that he went to the employment office and he saw a sign saying they're recruiting railroad spike, spike pounders in the United States. So he told me it said to report in Seattle, Washington, so he took a boat to Seattle, Washington, I don't know how long it took him to get there, and then he got there, then he went right directly to the employment office and they put him on the spike pounding crew from Seattle, Washington, to meet the south, no, meet the east and the west, the railroad track would come from the east to the west, they pound the golden spikes for them. That's what completed the spike pounding job. So I don't know, he didn't tell me how long it took, but anyway, he was on that crew, and then after the golden spike was pounded they had a big celebration there, and I forgot what the name of that celebration was, golden spike something, just don't remember. And then he came back on the crew train and then he worked in Washington for a while in the restaurant, because there's a lot of openings for restaurant dishwasher, and then he made enough money to come to, he always wanted to come to California, so he made enough money to come to San Francisco. And then there he worked in a restaurant because they were recruiting dishwashers, so he worked over there for I don't know how long, a couple years, I guess. Then he decided, he met one of his friends, I guess, and they told him to come to California, to Los Angeles. Then he went from Washington to Los Angeles, I guess, and then him and his buddies started a little strawberry farm in Torrance, California. I think his first ranch was on Avalon and I believe it was Carson. Yeah, Avalon and Carson.

MN: And at that time was that considered Moneta, not Torrance?

TY: Well, it was either Moneta, I never did hear the, hear the name Torrance. I always thought it was Moneta, in the Gardena area, okay. That's how much I know about that area.

MN: So your father is farming now and he settles down, is this when he called your mother over?

TY: After he settled down. After he settled down, yes, I guess.

MN: And what was the name, what are the names of your parents, your mother and your father?

TY: My father's parents' names?

MN: Your father's name.

TY: Oh, my father's name? His name is Seiikichi. Right? You got that.

MN: And what about your mother's name?

TY: Samo.

MN: And what is her maiden name?

TY: Hanada. Samo Hanada.

MN: And was this an arranged marriage?

TY: No, I believe they were married already in Japan, because they were telling me that he, she was promised to him when she was born or something like that. I don't know exactly, but they were talking about it and I overheard the conversation.

MN: Now, your father, could we, did he go AWOL from the Japanese army?

TY: More or less. That's why he never did want to go back to Japan, so I don't know whether I should say that or not, but, you know... I could never figure out why he never wanted to go back to Japan. He always sent his wife, my mother, to Japan, take a vacation or tour, whatever, to meet the parents or uncles or cousins or whatever. And I said, "Dad, why don't you go to Japan with Mama?" And he said, "No, I'm never to go back to Japan." So I got inquisitive and, "Why, Pop? Why, Pop? Why don't you want to go back to Japan?" "No, son, never going back." So he told me the story earlier saying that he was never gonna go back to the war ground, the Russo-Japanese war ground, so that's the reason why I figured that my dad was AWOL to the U.S., I mean Japan army, Japan government, rather. So then I was kind of scared to go myself, even to tour or whatever, but I figured, well, time has elapsed, my dad's gone, so they can't do nothing to me, so that's why we started taking trips to Japan. [Laughs]

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.