<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Earlier you mentioned when you were born, Mr. Yasui gave you the name Mariko because of your round face. But he lived in Hood River, right?

MM: Hood River city, yes.

TI: Yeah, so that was...

MM: Thirteen miles. Thirteen miles.

TI: So how frequently did the Yasui family come up to Dee?

MM: Come up to Dee?

TI: Or the Dee people went down to Hood River?

MM: Mr. Yasui was the voice for practically all the Japanese in the valley. I mean, when they have a meeting about the fruit, what they should do or what they should spray, he was, he'd come around and talk with the people. He was sort of a volunteer, just a helper all the time. So he'd come around. But he, also opened a little store, Japanese store in Hood River, so he was there part time. But usually his brother ran it.

TI: This was a store in Hood River?

MM: Hood River city. There's a building named Yasui building now, it's called Yasui building there.

TI: And so for the families when they needed to get supplies, they would go down to Hood River city?

MM: It had Japanese food. Not like Uwajimaya, but there was quite a bit there.

TI: Okay. And how often would families like your family go down to Hood River city?

MM: To Hood River city? Not too often. To shop there, only about once in, I think, several weeks or so. But when they had to drive the truck with the fruit and take it to Hood River, they'd go every day during the harvest season. They had to haul it in.

TI: And so during the harvest season, that must be a really busy time.

MM: Busy time.

TI: Everyone was working. Like for the kids, what would you have to do?

MM: We all had to work. When there were strawberries, we had to hoe berries and get the weeds out and everything, pick berries, pick apples, pick pears. We all had to work after we came home from school. Didn't hurt us, though, I guess.

TI: No, that sounds good. When you talk about school, let's go to your regular school. I guess the first question, with so many Japanese, how many Caucasians were in your class?

MM: In the valley, you mean in Dee Flat?

TI: Yeah, in Dee Flat.

MM: Oh, I'd say about (two)-third Caucasians and about (one-third) Japanese, I think. (There was only one elementary school in Dee and Dee Flat. The majority of the sawmill workers were Caucasians.)

TI: Okay, so the majority of the people there were Japanese. And was that the same in the regular school, there were more Japanese?

MM: (No. Many farmers were Japanese, but the majority of the sawmill workers were Caucasian). Oh, yes. Our school was the elementary school, it's still standing there. Now Hispanics are living there as a home, but the nice elementary school was still there (...).

TI: And what was the name of the elementary school?

MM: Just Dee Elementary. And we had to walk about a mile, no buses. [Laughs]

TI: And so how large was your class at Dee Elementary, when you went to school?

MM: How what?

TI: How large was your class?

MM: Twenty, twenty-five in each class, and then eight classes, all eight classes. Then we had to go to Hood River junior -- middle school, they call it middle school now -- junior high for freshman year. And then Hood River High School, sophomore, junior, senior.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.