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TI: Okay, so they would buy the seeds in Japan, and they would then offer like a standard price for all the seeds?

EY: Well, it was all by the co-op. The oyster seed producers cooperative would get all the things together. The price is all uniform, nobody can chisel the price, so they had good control.

TI: And this way the seed producers in Japan would get more money, they would get a higher price.

EY: They were very happy. They even said that we would have to build a statue of Mr. Yamashita. They were just plain, they were happy. They didn't get people coming down and chiseling the price, they were... and the one problem was these people financially was very pressed. And so they wanted to, didn't want to miss any sale. So they sent extra quantities, and that got to be the source of another problem. Because my father got stuck with all of these things, he had to plant them or do something to sell.

TI: So he would have a surplus of seed.

EY: He would have a surplus. And then people would say, "Look at Yamashita. Because he's at the source, he's getting a bargain. And he's getting this, and that's not fair," kind of thing.

TI: Because they thought the cooperative always said everyone gets the same price, but then they would think that your father, because he was part of...

EY: The American customer was the one that brought up the complaint.

TI: But before we go there, I just want to back up a little bit, because you said there was another innovation, that before you talked about how the seed producers would ship it by train to Yokohama and then shipped over, but there was an even better way.

EY: Yeah. And that was my father in the use of the timber, was able to move the ships around. And so he used the same practice. If you have the whole production in one area, then you can say, "Move the ship over here, and we'll get the deck loaded." And so they would have a big load on it, and they don't have to have that small quantity being sent by flatcars to Yokohama. So everything would be quick. They could put it together and load it on the ship, they could be having salt water pouring over the seed, be healthy. And so everything worked out well.

TI: And when it came to the United States, did the ship go directly to Samish Bay, or did it come into, like, Seattle?

EY: Oh, they, depending on how many goes where, ships went to different places. Like one would go to Anacortes for Samish Bay area, and then there would be one that would be going to Seattle or Everett, Olympia, Willapa harbor. But the ship would go there, and then unload there to the growers' barges, and so it was much easier and efficient for the ships.

TI: So it sounds like everyone won, then, because the seed producers would get a better price.

EY: That's right.

TI: You had a more efficient way which would save money, which then meant that the buyers, the growers here, got a good price also.

EY: Yeah, but they got the wrong impression. They thought that Yamashita was getting a bargain.

TI: So even though the Japanese seed producers were all really happy...

EY: They were happy.

TI: The American growers felt that they were being cheated somehow.

EY: They thought that Yamashita was getting a bargain. And then my father turned to some of the Japanese producers over here in Willapa, and he said, well, we've got a surplus, how about taking some of this? He would say, well, after the crop is in, you can pay us. Anything like that would arouse suspicion that somebody's getting a bargain. And my father, people thought that because my father was the one that was representing the import group, he was getting a bargain. He wasn't.

TI: Yeah, so what happened?

EY: He was so honest, you know, that he wasn't even keeping any of those seed. He was sending it out to all the people and doing what he can to make things better for the growers over in Japan. But that was not the case from their understanding of people like E.N. Steele. He bombarded the Japanese foreign office saying that Yamashita was doing this, he was getting all the bargain and taking advantage. Bombarded them with letters, so what did they do? Well, Japan is controlled by Mitsui, Mitsubishi, because the imperial family are stockholders of those companies. They can do anything, they can get away with anything. And so they accused my father with all the wrongdoing. The opportunity came for Mitsui, they had a representative in San Francisco, the seed was supposed to come to here, but, to my father. In 1941, it didn't come, it went to the other people.

TI: And that was the Mitsui connection?

EY: Mitsui connection, the agent.

TI: What's interesting, though, you said it was like, in, sort of in cooperation with the foreign ministry, because you said Mr. Steele would complain to the foreign ministry office here, the Japanese office, and then they would communicate that back, and so that's when Mitsui came in.

EY: Yeah, that's how it is. The way Mitsui made things difficult for small people is just unconscionable.

TI: Because they could take that whole shipment and essentially divert it someplace else.

EY: Well, but I don't think it could be done that way. But the agent, the agent could say, well, "Gee, it's not going to Yamashita, I will handle it." (The Seed Growers' Cooperative was selling the seed directly to the local growers and my father was the representative of the co-op.)

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2014 Densho. All Rights Reserved.