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Title: Miyoko Tsuboi Nakagawa Interview
Narrator: Miyoko Tsuboi Nakagawa
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: South Bend, Washington
Date: April 30, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-nmiyoko_2-01-0017

<Begin Segment 17>

TI: So what was the hardest part about moving from Portland to South Bend to an oyster farm? What was the hardest part?

MN: I think one of the things was that I just couldn't just walk down the street and get to the grocery store if I needed anything. I had to make a list, make sure that I got all the provisions or whatever I wanted right then and there. I guess that's the good thing, keep your mind sharp. But I always forget something, even now. And we... but it was really strange to be out here, no traffic lights, and they're going fifty-five miles an hour or something. And my driving, it was slightly terrifying to go around the curves. I'm only driving, what is it, twenty-five miles or something in town, and I had just really... well, I was a beginner, I guess, in driving, I would say, because I just, we got the car just the summer before, oh, the summer before I met Giro. So I had just got the car, we had gotten the car, we purchased the car, and then I met Giro soon after that. So I was very thankful I learned how to drive.

TI: So how many years have you lived in South Bend?

MN: Well, this will be our, in June it will be fifty-six years. And I keep telling myself, "I survived out here." [Laughs] And I have never opened an oyster yet. Because I worked here, well, after I moved out here, I didn't work for, oh, until my children started school, and everything was very busy here. But I started working for them... see, I started working as a bookkeeper and a payroll, took care of the payroll business, all that kind of stuff, here, anyway, there's an office back there. So one day they were very busy at the plant, and I figured, well, why don't I go and open some oysters and give them a hand? Well, I've never opened an oyster, but I figured I could always try. Well, the thing is, if you're not very proficient, you might stab your thumb or your hand. And I got over there and I said, "I've come to try my hand at opening oysters." I was going to get up there and take this place. And they looked at me like, "What is she doing out of the office?" kind of thing. And they said, "No, that's all right. We'll be okay." But I said, "I thought you needed a little extra help, somebody's missing." And they said, "No, we'd rather have you go back to the office. We don't want you to get hurt." I figured I can't type their payroll checks, you see.

TI: That's good.

MN: So anyway... and to this day, I haven't opened an oyster yet. I've got to do that before I die. [Laughs]

TI: You'll have to have Giro go out there and show you how to do one. That's a good story. So I'm at the end of my questions.

MN: Pardon?

TI: So I've finished all my questions. Is there anything else that you want to talk about that I forgot, maybe I didn't ask?

MN: I don't think so. I think my father, as I reflect, I think my father did the best he could, and I'm thankful... I hope, I keep thinking my father was a very, what is it, very organized man, I think. He had everything, kichomen, he always had things in the proper place, he used to always tell me to, "Put your clothes in order in case of emergency, you had to get up and be ready to get dressed in a hurry." So put your shoes in place, you know, everything in order. And he used to have, I used to have a big shelf with, yeah, a lot of shelves that I put my schoolbooks, everything was in order, so I knew exactly where things were. But I think he's gonna be appalled up there that things are not the way it is now.

TI: Well, I think you're still pretty organized.

MN: Yeah, I think life has really... I feel that life has treated me well. I mean, everyone that I've ever met, or have always been kind, and always twelve years at Lewis & Clark, I really got spoiled. Of course, I was the only Japanese American working there, secretary there. So I met all the deans and everybody. Oh, I know one thing I forgot. My grade school principal, Dr. Thaxter, when I went to Lewis & Clark College, he was a professor there. So I hadn't seen him since my grade school, since grade school, before the war. And he taught biology and the sciences, biology, and he was really nice. He used to write poems, and he wrote a poem about... he wrote a poem about all the... not all, but some of the teachers and some of the happenings and everything, and he wrote one poem about me and Giro, and it's in a book.

TI: And what's his name?

MN: It's... I think it just rhymes, but it was, they did it at school, you know, they had a printing shop and everything.

TI: But do you remember his name?

MN: Oh, Dr. Benjamin Thaxter, B.A. Thaxter, that's what he signed it as, Thaxter.

TI: And, you know, I forgot to ask, your children, how many children did you and Giro have?

MN: Three.

TI: And what were their names?

MN: Michael, Byron and Noreen.

TI: Okay. Now, did they all work in the oyster business, too, at some time?

MN: Well, they did punch shells, and they worked here, but, during their growing up, they had to get out and pick and whatnot. [Laughs]

TI: Well, so, Miyo, thank you so much for doing the interview. You did really well, this was fun.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.