<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Tell me more about your father. He sounds like a very forward thinking, industrious person.

ES: Yes, he was. He was quite a different kind of a man. He was always watching out for his children, just constantly. And he did all the grocery buying. My mother would make a list of what she wanted. And he'd buy meat instead of little chunks of, like pork chops where they're sliced now. Well, he would buy a whole leg of beef, and when I think about it now it's probably a rump roast or a leg of pork, then my mother would just slice off what we need for, to make stir fry. And we did have an icebox. As far as I can remember we always had an icebox. My dad would go and get ice from ice, wherever they had ice, had an icebox.

TI: And what was his personality like? I mean, so he's very kind of advanced thinking, industrious, but was he, yeah, how would you describe his personality?

ES: He seemed to get along with people very well. He hired these young fellows and he'd, once in a while he had them come over to the house and have something to eat, those Filipino fellows. They really loved him. But then my mother was kind of, stayed home and didn't want any, too many people around, but she was a good cook. She taught me how to cook. But my mother really got to a point where she liked to associate with people in church, and so we were never taught any other religion except the Protestant. We had Protestant neighbors and so for that reason, I think, my parents went into Christianity. However, my grandparents were still in the Buddhist group and I know their, they had a Buddhist, what do they call them? The shrine.

TI: Butsudan.

ES: Yeah, in their home, but my mother never did. And met a neighbor called the Loony family, and they lived about, I'd say maybe it was only a quarter of a mile from the house, and they were farming and so they were always watching out for us, the children of the Japanese. At Christmastime they would make popcorn balls and come with, he had a buggy with a horse that pulled it, and would ring Christmas bells and come around with, and give all of us these popcorn balls that were just wonderful. And then of course there was a church on the corner of where we went to school, and on the way home from church they'd want us to stop and have something to eat and drink, and then they'd teach us all these American songs, like "Jesus loves me" and that type of songs. And all we knew was Japanese songs, like "Moshi moshi kamesan," that type of thing, and we really loved this lady. She's the one who really told me to come to her home, and she'd show me how to can my fruits. My mother would never can. She finally bought me a pressure cooker so that at age, I think, twelve, I was canning all of my family fruits and some, some vegetables.

TI: So it sounds like your family was really accepted in the community by others.

ES: Yes.

TI: The white neighbors, the Filipino workers, there's a pretty, pretty...

ES: We became very well known in the community. Course we were there for all of our life. We, my dad was there during the war and, of course, our house burnt down.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.