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TI: So going back to you, what are some early childhood memories of growing up in Strawberry Hill?

MK: They were very pleasant. I was my father's sidekick, and I, when I look back now, I think he also felt guilty because I think when they thought about giving me away or something, 'cause you know how when, after I found out, I'm recalling all those things and I was, I would tag along with my father everywhere. I was just like his little sidekick. And he always took me everywhere, so that, so that... like my older sisters used to say to me, "Dad loves you the best," or something like, you know how they do. But he would go to the market, wholesale market and then he'd bring a banana or peanuts or whatever, it would always be for me. So I used to think I, I mean, when I was a kid I was thankful, but when I think about it later, I always thought, yeah, they really thought I was a privileged kid or something. But I think maybe they did, he did feel that he might've lost...

TI: But then age, or birth order wise, in some ways you were almost like the youngest child too, because there's, there was such a gap between you and George.

MK: That's right, and the next one. Right.

TI: So that, yeah, for a long time you were like the youngest child.

MK: That's right. So yeah, like I was really surprised when -- and my mother was a big, big lady, so we didn't even know she was having all these babies. Every time she'd go away there'd be another baby. Yeah, so in fact, my oldest sister Yuki had, when Bernice was born she already had a child.

TI: Okay, so Bernice had a --

MK: Auntie that was...

TI: -- auntie that was older.

MK: I mean niece, niece that was older than her.

TI: That's right. Wow. In terms of just, like the chores, you talked about being a sidekick with your dad and also the egg, the egg business in terms of cleaning and all.

MK: Every morning we were, we had pecking orders. From the smallest to, me and my brother up to the older brothers and sisters would clean the drop boards where the chickens roosted all night, they'd clean the drop board and we would bring buckets of dirt and we'd throw it all over the top of the, where they would roost and then, so that next night they, it wouldn't stick to the board. And so that was our chore before we went to school.

TI: So how long did it take you in the morning to do that?

MK: About half an hour. We'd just get the, there's a pile of dirt and we'd just get it and go from room to room.

TI: And was this after you had eaten breakfast, or was this --

MK: No, no, all before.

TI: Okay, so you'd wake up and go do your chores.

MK: That's right, yes. My older brothers would, some of 'em had to go and clean the water pan, and then others would have to feed the mash. It's a, it's the animals and the chickens that we had to take care of, so that was a chore.

TI: So for your parents, it was an advantage to have so many kids 'cause they had all these, this free labor to do this.

MK: Yeah, that's right. And we had, and there were, it wasn't written, but everybody did... and my oldest sister made all the lunch for the school, and she'd make all the sandwiches or onigiri or whatever to, and then we'd just all eat. And we mostly ate rice and misoshiru and a Japanese breakfast, and we'd go off to school. And then we'd have to walk. We didn't have no bus to go to school.

TI: And how far would you have to walk?

MK: It was like, I would say about a mile we'd have to go to school.

TI: And they would see the whole Enta clan come, all these kids. [Laughs]

MK: That's right. And the way the municipality was cut, here's Scott Road running down here and this side is Delta, this side is Surrey, and the school district for Delta side, they, all the people that live on this side have to go to this school. And then we had to go, we were closer to the Kennedy School, but that was not our district, so we had to walk all the way down to Strawberry Hill School.

TI: And so some of your friends, your neighbors, would go to one school and you would go to the other school.

MK: That's right.

TI: I see.

MK: Yeah, and the kumiai, I mean, they had the Kennedy kids and the Strawberry Hill kids. But we all went to Japanese school in the same school.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.