<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Okay, so we can move on. So after Mr. Hardy sold the, he retired and sold the store, he told your father to get into the import business to try and bring these...

EY: Pearls (and other jewelry).

TI: ...pearls to the United States. So from Japan to the United States.

EY: Yes.

TI: Okay, so tell me how that worked.

EY: Well, the Japanese pearl makers were too anxious to get money. And so instead of allowing the pearl oysters to make a heavier coat around the seed, they harvested it too soon. And so the customers would say, "I don't understand why, but these seem to have a wear on the edges and I can see the inside thing showing." So my father told the pearl producers to do a better job. But that was not the only impediment in the progress of things. The complaint about the pearl was where the stones came together, it was wearing, and then the inside was showing.

TI: So again, that was because they were picked too soon?

EY: Yes, the coat was too thin. And so that was one of the complaints. Then my father got involved in... those days, people carried watches, so it needed crystals, so he had people make crystals. Well, it was a good domestic industry for people to blow it and make it, but the problem was, there was no uniformity.

TI: So he was trying to get crystals made in Japan and then importing that.

EY: Yeah.

TI: So he said he would set up, find people in Japan to do it, but then he said there was no uniformity in the...

EY: No uniformity. And so people didn't like that, and that was no good. It was in that way with many things that he dealt with. And so the importing part of that was no good, it didn't succeed.

TI: And how did your father find these people? Did he travel a lot to Japan?

EY: (Yes). Oh, he went to Japan to find people. And, of course, they were very poor, and they were anxious to do things and sell things so that they can make money. But they were too anxious, and so the end result was it turned into a failure rather than a success.

TI: Okay. Now you mentioned earlier that at this point, your father's still single, and he's in the importing business. But then you mentioned your mom, so when did those two meet?

EY: Well, they were cousins. And so I guess my father knew her, but...

TI: And so he went back to Japan to marry her?

EY: Yeah. He was going to... I guess he was involved with my mother's sister as well, older sister. But ended up with my mother.

TI: Now I'm curious, you talked about earlier how many of the women just were "picture brides," so they just came over and married their husbands here. So why didn't your father do that? He knew you were his cousins, so couldn't he have just, like, picked one and have them come over?

EY: Well, I suppose he could have, you know. But I also know that, know the complaint that my mother had voiced. She said he was more interested in the welfare of his boys than of her. And so she was very jealous, and she was letting me know. [Laughs]

TI: But then he went to Japan, and then they kind of got married in Japan?

EY: (Well, he was trying to satisfy the wishes of his father-in-law to be, so it wasn't that simple).

TI: And I think you told me earlier, he decided to try to stay in Japan for a while.

EY: Yeah, his future father-in-law wanted him to do something in Japan, so he tried. He thought that by mechanizing the sewage hauling business, why maybe if he bought a tanker truck, that he would be able to do it. He tried it, but you can't beat the cheap labor. When you try to do some sophisticated things, it cost more.

TI: So explain that a little more. So he would have his tanker truck, he would go into neighborhoods?

EY: Yeah, that was the plan. And he got one tanker.

TI: And he was going to collect all the waste from, the human waste...

EY: Human waste, yes.

TI: ...from all of the houses.

EY: Yes. How hard he tried, I don't know. I'm sure that he looked at it from a profit angle, too, and if it were not profitable, you can't do it. And so my father...

TI: But I was trying to figure out how they would do this. So the house would have some kind of system where it'd collect, and then the truck would come by and would pick it up, kind of?

EY: Yeah, with a pump, they would probably suck it up to get it in the tank. But my maternal grandmother, grandfather, was a little bit brighter, and he knew that there wasn't much that he could do in Japan. So he said, "Take her and go."

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.