<Begin Segment 26>

SY: Amazing, really, that you did, that you were able to do, do really with the family business, right? It was a family business that --

PM: Right, at the end.

SY: -- that you ran. Because both of you were working in the business. You reminded me that the people that worked for the employment agency in Little Tokyo were, one, became kind of prominent, right? He was a caterer.

PM: Right, Justin Yamaguchi.

SY: Right. And how did that happen? Did our dad have anything to do with his becoming successful?

PM: No, no. Evidently he liked cooking and taking care of people that way and he decided to do it, so he quit and went into the catering business.

SY: And the other one was the wife of a photographer.

PM: Right, Mrs. Iwata, Peggy Iwata.

SY: And her husband was Jack Iwata.

PM: Jack. Right.

SY: And do you know, I mean, did you ever talk to him about -- 'cause he took a lot of photographs of camp.

PM: Yes.

SY: I know I've seen many of his photographs, but did he ever talk about that with you?

PM: No, he didn't.

SY: He just was...

PM: Yes, and he used to also be the newsman for Densu, I think it was, or one of the companies in Japan.

SY: I see. So he was always taking pictures. He was staying very busy as a photographer.

PM: Yes.

SY: He, his office was...

PM: In Little Tokyo.

SY: Wasn't it, it was right down the, down the hallway, wasn't it?

PM: Yes, that's right.

SY: From our office. And so there were quite a few people at that time working for us.

PM: Yes. Ms. Mary Sugi and another fellow.

SY: So he, so Dad was, Daddy was still running the business at that time.

PM: Yes.

SY: And able to...

PM: When he passed away, then Mom continued it for a while, and probably she was about sixty-five when she, when Victor, our brother, said that maybe she should retire, so we closed the employment agency. Then Fred came to work for us, to do our books, 'til he got sick.

SY: So your, so really you maintained the family business for as long as, almost from the time that you started.

PM: Yes.

SY: It, was that, are you happy that you did that? Is that something that --

PM: I didn't have enough alternative.

SY: Even though you worked for others when you first came out.

PM: I worked for Opportunity School as a telephone operator, and then I worked for the government for a while, then I started working for Daddy when we came back to Los Angeles.

SY: But are you, are you pleased that that's the route you took, to maintain the family --

PM: You know, I've enjoyed, I enjoy what I do and I've enjoyed all the years even though it hasn't brought us that much money, but it's also serving people and making sure they're happy on tour, and I think that's part of the Yamato tradition, that we do that. So we're not rich, but somehow we're managing. We got the kids through college and they're okay.

SY: Yeah. So do you attribute that to our family, the fact that there's this service tradition?

PM: I think so, yes.

SY: Because you're the only person who really went into business.

PM: Correct. Nobody else wanted to and everybody else was a teacher, I think, the siblings. [Laughs]

SY: Right. And how, how did that happen? How come they didn't end up working in the office?

PM: Nobody, I don't think they enjoyed working in the office.

SY: So they never had the opportunity either. They never did it.

PM: No.

SY: It was just you. And you, so that's something that, probably because you were the closest to our father right?

PM: Right.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.