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MN: Now, in 1939, your family moved again, I guess because the lease was up.

YK: Right, the three years were up.

MN: And where did your family move to after Sacramento?

YK: Okay, we moved to a town called Trabuco Canyon, but actually we weren't in the canyon, we were up on the mesa, and there was a big windy road up there. And the mesa area was very flat, and there was ample water there because across the street were orange orchards, and then there were some other farmers there, too, raising cattle and other things. But we were the only growers of farm crops. And we had tomatoes and strawberries mainly, and we had one large acreage. And so we were doing very well there. In fact, other than our pickup truck, we had our first bigger truck and then our first passenger car. And then I had my first bicycle.

MN: Do you want to share with us how you got your first bicycle?

YK: [Laughs] Well, yeah, that was kind of a special situation, I guess. Well, my... there were only four of us kids about my age up there, and they had bicycles and were biking everywhere. And my friend Jackie Robinson would let me ride on his handlebars at times, but I really wanted a bicycle of my own. My brothers had two other bigger bicycles, and I tried to learn on it. Of course, I was way too short, and so I was always falling. But anyway, my brothers used to go into the town of Santa Ana once a week on Saturday to go get groceries. So then the three of us thought, "Oh, wouldn't it be great if you were able to go?" And so I was urged to talk to my brother Takashi, and he said, "Well, okay." So that's all we could think of was where we were going on Saturday and how much fun it would be. Of course, when Saturday came, then he didn't show up. (...) My father and my oldest brother showed up. I thought, "Oh, they're not going to take us." But I pleaded with them, but then they said no 'cause I had, 'cause my two buddies had shown up with their shoes on and their fancy church-like clothes. And so I felt, well, I really let them down, and so I started crying uncontrollably, and my father didn't understand why I was crying. He asked my brother Tadao, and he didn't know either. So Tadao said, well, that I wanted a bike very badly, so, "Let's take him and buy a bike." So our father said, well, okay. But I thought, well, but I let my two buddies down, but they said, "No, no, go ahead, get a bike." So I got in (the pickup truck) with my father and brother. (...) My father called me a nakimiso and scolded me. But they bought me a new bicycle, so then all four of us could ride all over the mesa and down the canyon and all over. So those were fun days.

MN: Yeah, I think you were sharing about when you trying to ride those bigger bikes, you almost tore off your toenail or something like that?

YK: Oh, yeah, yeah, it would get caught in the spokes there. [Laughs]

MN: Now when you first moved to Trabuco Canyon area, what was the sleeping arrangement like?

YK: Oh, well, we had a... the family had built a whole new house with a big living and dining area so all eleven of us could eat there. And it actually had running water inside. No hot water, they always had to heat that. And so in that house the parents and my sisters lived in it, I was in the bunkhouse with the other five boys. And there was a barn and also the outhouse and furoba and so forth. And we had a lot of chickens and mules to pull the plows and so forth.

MN: So at that time, it was all animals, no mechanized tractors?

YK: Right. Well, later on, we had a tractor as we made more money. And Hide was the main driver of that, he was the mechanically oriented one.

MN: Now once you moved to the Trabuco Canyon area, which grammar school did you attend?

YK: (We all) attended a grammar school way out in El Toro, which was twelve miles away. So one of the residents in Trabuco Canyon would drive us in their car all the way there and all the way back.

MN: And what was the ethnic makeup of this school?

YK: There were quite a few Mexican kids, because we were in farm country there. And all the farmers would hire the cheaper Mexican laborers, so there was a high percentage of Mexicans.

MN: So how... did you have any hard time making friends or was it easy?

YK: Oh, no, there was no problem.

MN: Now was it around this time that you started to go to Japanese language school?

YK: Yeah, we would go into Tustin where there was a Buddhist church where my parents would go and then they enrolled us there in the Japanese school, but we didn't learn very much. We only remembered recess.

MN: And was this Japanese school every day or just Saturdays?

YK: No, that was just (...) Saturday or Sunday, one of the days.

MN: Was it all day or just half a day?

YK: More or less half a day.

MN: Did your other siblings also attend?

YK: Yes, uh-huh.

MN: How strict was the Japanese school?

YK: I don't recall it being very strict at all.

MN: And what did you bring for lunch to Japanese school?

YK: Oh, gee, I don't recall. [Laughs] I don't recall whether meals were provided or whether we took our brown bags like we usually did to school.

MN: What did you bring to school?

YK: Just a brown bag, mainly a ham sandwich, and maybe a fruit and maybe a cookie. That was about it.

MN: So no rice?

YK: No. Well, I guess once in a while we would get rice, I guess, rice balls.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.