Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Yuriko Yamamoto Interview
Narrator: Yuriko Yamamoto
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: April 24, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-yyuriko-01-0004

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MN: Did your father, it sounds like he was very outgoing.

YY: Very. Yeah, he was very, women liked him. He was very witty and funny and he's nice-looking and always wore a suit and always spiffy.

MN: Was he asked to a lot of emceeing?

YY: Well, he used to go to weddings and things, but he would have to get one of these before he had the nerve to. But I think he enjoyed it, he had a lot of personality.

MN: So your dad liked to drink, too?

YY: Not too excessive, but yeah, he had to have one of those to start, because he's kind of shy, I think, in a sense. Especially when he's talking in front of people.

MN: Did your father make any alcohol at home?

YY: No.

MN: What about his sports activities?

YY: He used to golf, I think that was the main thing, he went golfing with his friends.

MN: Any other sports?

YY: Well, when he was young he used to go tennis, swimming and all that. I don't recall him doing that, but mainly it was golf with his friends.

MN: Do you know where he went golfing?

YY: No, I have no idea, 'cause I was little kid, not even interested, really.

MN: How would you describe your mother's personality?

YY: Very quiet, subservient, very sweet, hardly raises her voice, just complete opposite.

MN: And what did your mother, what did you often see her doing at home?

YY: She does artistic things, cooking and sewing and a lot of pastries she makes, Japanese stuff. So she never gossiped. Anytime she's on the phone she'd be exchanging recipes. She's not a person that gossiped about people. Her good friend is the one who took care of me when my father took my mother's ashes over, we're Christians, so we used to always sing when she's washing dishes, Christian songs. But she's a Buddhist, so when she died, she had a Buddhist funeral. I think in her heart she was more of a Christian.

MN: You mentioned like pastries that your mother made. Are you talking about manju?

YY: Yes, she was very clever. Anything handwork, she was very good. She could look at something, knitting or something, she could figure it out and just crochet whatever. She was really good.

MN: What about your clothes? Did she sew your clothes?

YY: All my clothes.

MN: Who was the disciplinarian in your family?

YY: I think more my father. He never hit me, but he used to pinch me sometimes, my arm, when I'm bad.

MN: What about if your brothers got in trouble?

YY: Oh, yeah, they got it, because they're boys. It's two different things. I'm the apple of his eye, you know. I got away with murder. [Laughs]

MN: Now for enjoyment, did your father like to take the family on car rides?

YY: Oh, yeah, he took us all over.

MN: Like where?

YY: Alligator farm, ostrich farm, and Painted Desert in Arizona, and Yosemite. I'm surprised, just drove. So he took us a lot of places.

MN: Not a lot of families...

YY: I know. When I think about it, he had a lot of guts to go all over. But I guess his English was good enough to understand and know directions. But he had a lot of real spunk.

MN: And then you mentioned earlier that your family had a phone in the house.

YY: A what?

MN: A phone.

YY: A phone? Oh, yeah. Is that unusual? We always had a phone. One of these you hang up.

MN: Did your neighbors come to use your phone?

YY: No, they all had 'em, I think.

MN: I wonder if most of the city people had phones.

YY: Really?

MN: Most of the farmers didn't have phones.

YY: Oh, yeah, I guess it would be different in the city. Most of them all had phone, they had to have phone.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.