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KN: So today is February 20, 2012, and we are interviewing Mr. Maurice Yamasato of Honolulu, Hawaii. So have a few questions if you do not mind me asking. So can you first introduce yourself and describe your family members and maybe the order of brothers and sisters in your family as well as your parents?

MY: Okay. I'll start off by saying I'm Maurice Yamasato, born in Lima, Peru. So actually, I was known as Manuel Yamasato until I became naturalized and naturally put on a so-called "American name." I have seven sisters, and I'm the only son. So in Japanese they would say kuroushita, you know, hard time. But anyway, my dad was... my mom and dad was born in Okinawa, and when my dad was seventeen years old, he moved over to Peru, immigrated to Peru to become a worker in a plantation, but he and four others decided they didn't want to work in a plantation. So as soon as they landed, they made their way to the city of Lima. And that's where they, I guess, worked, and later on he owned a restaurant and a dry goods store. So by the time he was thirty-one years old, he was very successful as a restaurant man and dry goods. So he decided to fly over to Okinawa and get married. So that's where he married my mother, who that time, he considered, when he saw her, which was the sister of -- I'm sorry, friend of his sister, the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. And although she was eighteen, convinced her to marry him. And so she was eleven years younger. I can't do the math right away.

Anyway, so she, my mom didn't want to be married to a farmer in Okinawa, so (she) decided to go with this successful businessman in Peru. So they had two children in Okinawa, Kimiko and Eiko. And my mom and dad flew (...) to (Peru) and waited for Kimiko, Eiko, and Grandmother to fly over to Lima, Peru. Not fly, I'm sorry, sail over. Anyway, what happened is the war broke out, World War II, so my grandmother and the two girls were stranded in Okinawa and my parents couldn't see them until sixteen years later, after the war. So anyway, my two oldest sisters sort of went through the war, not good memories, hiding in the caves and all that. And later on they graduated from high school and then (sailed) over to Hawaii.

And in meantime, my parents was having a hard time going through the intern camp. What happened was you heard the story about how the Peruvian government made a deal with the American government to use the Peruvian Japanese as prisoner of war exchange for families in Japan. So anyway, the word was out that they were coming over. Americans were getting families from Peru. So my dad was hiding in a room or in an attic, but like my mom said, impatient guy. So anyway, he got caught and was kidnapped and taken to Panama on to U.S. as a, like a prisoner of war. And then they asked my mom (if she wanted to join him). And by then, there were three of us: Florinda, myself, Manuel, and Rosa, the three of us. Anyway, we had to join my dad, who was in Crystal City, Texas. So that's where my mom and the three of us sailed over, and then met my dad and we stayed there for three years. But we were fortunate that we weren't sent to Japan for prisoner of war exchange. In the meantime, I had another sister, Fumiko, who was born in Crystal City, Texas.

And then when the war ended, we couldn't go back to Peru. My dad lost his restaurant and store and a beautiful house. He had maids and everything, you know, kind of well-to-do guy. Then no place to go, so he was fortunate to have his sister living on Hawaii, you know, Kapaa, Kauai. So instead of going to New Jersey, Seabrook Farms, as the others, (...) they asked him if he wanted to go back to Okinawa, which was crazy, it's just war-torn, or Japan. So he opted to go to Kapaa, Kauai. Okay, he went there penniless. I still remember the only money he had was paper money, the currency that's used in the camp, which was worthless, right? So he had to go into pig farming like all Okinawans, they became pig farmers. And then he worked for the cannery as a janitor or custodian. He was the lowest person in the cannery, cleaning the yard, but he was very thankful he had a job at ninety cents an hour. Can you imagine? Ninety cents an hour. And he had to raise two more daughters. So there was two more that was born on Kauai, Margaret and Mary. So total of six in Hawaii, and two in Okinawa. He had a hard time meeting, I mean, having ends meet. So besides raising pigs, hog farm, he had a banana farm. Not a farm, actually, just an acre of bananas that I used for my college money.

But anyway, coming back to the pig farm, we had about, at the high peak, about fifty hogs, and I just hated being a pig farmer because ever since kindergarten -- I'm sorry, elementary school 'til I was in college, I used to go day to day, we used to go after school or late to pick up garbage.

KN: You were buta kau kau?

MY: Yeah, buta kau kau man. I don't know if you heard that buta kau kau man? I used to wear rubber boots, we had a pickup truck, and I had to run to the house and pick up this pail of garbage. This was prior to the garbage disposal days, so there were a lot of --

KN: How big was the pail, about?

MY: About...

KN: Like it could be a gallon?

MY: No, no, bigger. About three gallon.

KN: And people would put this... so how often during the week did you actually pick this up when they left it out for you folks?

MY: They left it out and every other day, two days. So by then... yeah, two days after. And of course I remember in high school, by then you notice girls, right? And I hated going to this certain girl's house because sometimes she'd be out in the back porch doing something, and I'd have to run over and grab the pail, but I would just dilly dally and fix my boots and bend over like I'm doing something, and my dad would just get upset. He'd say, "Nani ka? Hayaku, hayaku." "Hurry up, hurry up." So finally when I'd see her going into the house, I would run in and just grab the pail and get out of there as quick as I can.

KN: So how many houses would you actually have to visit? This was after school, is that correct?

MY: Yes, after school. The neighborhood, so at least twenty. And then later on we had a good client, a restaurant, so it made it easier. We could get quantity at one crack. But still, it wasn't a fun job. So my dad said, "If you don't go to college, you'll end up doing this." And anyway, so my dad was a hard-working man. Very, very hard-working man from sunup to sundown.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.