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TI: So tell me a little bit about your father. What was he like?

JK: My dad's what I call a classic samurai warrior, man. He's just a, just a machine. You work like a dog, you come home, and then, you know the classic, my mama would walk ten steps behind him, he'd bark out orders and he would tell us what to do in the morning, and boy, if we didn't have it done when he got home, man, we were in trouble. Yeah, he'd, I hope it doesn't sound like I didn't love my dad. I guess I loved him because he taught us things to do, but I guess I just, I call him just a classic macho guy. I never saw too much affection between him and my mom, but that's the way the guys are. Well, I don't know if this is traditional in other parts of this culture, but in Imperial Valley, every New Year's the deal was all my dad and his working colleagues, his customers, they'd drive around Imperial Valley to see, pay their respects to the family, the business. But my dad did the same thing, so none of, he wouldn't be home when all his buddies would come around. My mother'd been cooking for four days and they'd come and have some sake and enjoy some feast items, and then go on their way. And we kids, we loved it because every one of 'em would bring us some omiyage, so we didn't, so... and then sometimes when, I don't remember seeing any limousines, how did this guys spend the whole day partying and boozing, paying their respects to their friends and neighbors? I don't, have you heard anything?

TI: Yeah, it was pretty common. Yeah, other communities did the same thing, where the men would, on New Year's Day, make the rounds and the mom, or the mother, would be at home.

JK: Right, and they, all the kids, and then of course, we always did the mochi. 'Cause this was a farming community and so some designated person would have a place to go, and then we'd all go there in the car and everybody would party all day, and then we'd all bring home our share of the mochi. Oh yeah, those... [Laughs] And then I guess it's okay to talk about it now, it was so many years ago, we also had, in Imperial Valley we had a community still where the Issei families would make their own brew. And so it was our turn to go, my mama had, she had a kerosene stove, man, my brother and I were hauling kerosene to that stove all day long 'cause she's cooking up the mash and drip, drip, drip.

TI: So you guys would take turns, using the still.

JK: Yeah. It was a community, a communal still.

TI: Now, where was that located? Was it just on someone's farm? Or did they...

JK: Well, I figured the still was stashed away in somebody's farmhouse somewhere. And then, and then... anyways, all I remember is that my dad had a pickup truck and we'd lay the still in the bed of the truck and then we'd cover it with blankets, and four kids would sit on the damn still.

TI: That's a good story. [Laughs] And in terms of your father, just, beyond just the more traditional, like the mochi pounding or New Year's, just in terms of socializing with other men, did he do that very often?

JK: Are you kidding? My dad was a party animal. He, well, of course he was, remember we were talking a little bit about the Japanese association? Yeah, he was a real active person in that, and then every year there would be, like, a festival. And remember I told you he was in the trucking business? And think of it in terms of a big semi truck or a big ten-wheeler, he always, that was the stage for the annual picnic, okay? And so they'd bring potted cherry blossom plants and things like that, they'd bring microphones, PA system, set it up on the bed of the truck, right, and then people would sing, dance and do things like that. That was always an annual event.

TI: So let's talk about your father's involvement with the Japanese association. So he would bring the truck for the stage and do parties with these guys. What did the association do? I mean, what, describe their function, their role.

JK: Well, of course I have, because most of the Japanese community were members of the Buddhist church, somewhat centered around the Buddhist church, and in our family case, we were one of the small minority of Japanese families that were Protestant. And my mother was very religious and so she was very active in the Protestant church there. But as far as the association itself is concerned, they were very active in community affairs with the Japanese as well as linkage to Japan. And for example, what I remember is like, every year on the emperor's birthday we'd all assemble on the county fairgrounds in Imperial and there would be a ceremony, and then, what, the "Tennouheika banzai." We'd do that three or four or five times, whatever often, how many times you're supposed to do that. And that was an annual affair. Another one --

TI: Now, so I want to ask you, when you did that, when you did the banzai to the emperor, what were you thinking as a kid? I mean, here you are, a young boy, and everyone's doing that. What was going through your head?

JK: Well, I don't know, just, I frankly never gave that much thought. I'm just there and my mom and dad are there, and I guess we partied afterwards. [Laughs] It was part of the, part of the fun.

TI: Well, I'm trying to get, and you might've been a little young to think about this --

JK: Yeah, I was probably, in that era, what I remember, I was seven, eight, nine years old, somewhere in there.

TI: I was just trying to get a sense of, in terms of being a Japanese American and in this interesting place where Japan was at this point a very important part of your family's life, and yet you're going to regular school and you're American, and how you thought about kind of these, this sort of bi-culture existence.

JK: Well, you know, I've thought about that. I'm gonna give a presentation in a couple of weeks to a group of high school students, and these are Japanese, Japanese students of the Japanese business community in San Diego. And these are children that were born and raised in Japan, but now they've come to America and they've become assimilated in the American culture. And so they want me to share with them what I perceive that they feel like as a Nisei, where they come from a culture of Japan and here they become totally immersed in the American culture, and what happens to you as you do that. Yeah, I actually, frankly, other than things like Imperial Valley at least, we lived in a part of El Centro, even in a town of ten thousand people, we lived in a town area, an area between the railroad tracks and the highway, which was just considered to be kind of a mixed, mixed ethnic group. East of the railroad track was blacks only, or instead of, well, however you say it. And then west of the freeway, I mean west of the highway was for whites only. And then, for example, like the community swimming pool, that was for whites only. So it was not like we were not aware that there was this, these social or racial barriers. You know, it affected us a little bit. I remember my Mexican buddy and me -- he lived across the street from me -- remember I told you that's, we lived in the mixed zone, and so we'd go over there and the kids were taunting us, "You can't come in, you dummies." And my, I remember telling my Mexican buddy, I said, "Okay, one day we're gonna get rich and we'll buy this goddamn swimming pool place, and we're gonna swim in here and exclude all those yo-yos." [Laughs] But that's kid talk.

TI: Interesting. That's a good story.

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