<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Okay, so then you said you then moved to Redwood City?

KY: Yes.

TI: And why did your family move to Redwood City?

KY: Because my father got a job in Redwood City. And so we got a place in Redwood City where they had a nursery. And there was a home there, we moved into that home and we worked for the nursery, but he taught judo at nighttime. Because just judo alone, he couldn't make a living. There's not enough people. So he always had a regular steady job during the daytime and taught at nighttime, judo.

TI: And when you said "we," so did the family help out at the nursery also?

KY: Yes. My mother worked at the nursery, and if I got the chance, I worked a little bit. But I was more or less fooling around more than anything else, I was too young. But my mother worked there pretty steady.

TI: So in the nursery business, what kind of work, day to day, what would a typical day be?

KY: Oh, it's mostly, she was picking gardenias, and they had a nursery, hothouses, and they rose gardenias, and she used to pick gardenias. And they used to take them to Redwood City, the father would take it to the flower market in San Francisco and sell the flowers out there. That's what my mother did most of the time, work in the nursery. But I also, I went to work, too, but when I was going to high school, I went to work for a furniture store as a janitor. And, see, I worked there about a year in the furniture store until the war started.

TI: Now, was it common for other, sort of, boys or young men your age to be working and going to school at the same time?

KY: Well, a lot of people were nursery people, they were raising flowers out in the field like chrysanthemum. But we ended up in a nursery place where they grew the chrysanthemum. But they were all, the Japanese families were raising chrysanthemums, or they had nurseries. They had big nurseries in Redwood City, big ones.

TI: But your classmates, I think about your classmates in high school, so like the other kind of classmates, did they all have, like, jobs, and they would have to do either the nurseries or furniture store, for instance?

KY: No. Well, most of them worked in their own nurseries. So they had their whole family jobs, is what it was. See, but I was already going to school, and I didn't want to work in the nursery. So I got a job in a different... whatever I can find, I got a nice job working in a furniture store, which was about ten or twelve miles from Redwood City. But it was a great job, and my check was a fairly good-sized check I used to bring home, and my mother loved that. Because I was the oldest boy in the family, and I had to more or less help support the family. And I was working pretty steady at nighttime and going to school. When I'm at school, in my history class, I'd go to sleep.

TI: Before we go there, I just want to make sure I understand this. So you worked at night and things, good paycheck. And this money, what would happen to this money?

KY: My mother got it. Oh, no, my mother had to raise the family, and she needed all the money she can get. And so I was working for the family, because I'm the oldest boy. So I would get a nice job, make few dollars. She'd take the paycheck and she'd give me a couple dollars.

TI: And because you worked at night, you would fall asleep during class.

KY: History class. And one day the teacher came up to me and says, "You working at nighttime?" I says, "Yes." He says, "Go back to sleep." Says, "Go back to sleep."

TI: So the teacher was very sort of understanding.

KY: Yeah. She was an older teacher, so she knew what life was about. So she says, "You go to sleep."

TI: Do you remember what you thought or felt when that teacher said that to you?

KY: I didn't feel nothing, but I know I went to sleep. I went to sleep real fast. I was real sleepy. But it was, history was great, I loved history. I love history. Going to school, I always loved history. But I don't know, for some reason in her class I'd fall asleep. I guess it wasn't quite as interesting. [Laughs] But it was great; I learned a lot.

TI: So during this time, did any of your brothers or sisters also have side jobs like you?

KY: No. They were younger, they couldn't have jobs. Because I was eighteen, seventeen or eighteen, I was the oldest boy, and the other ones were fifteen, too young to have jobs. So I went to work right away.

TI: So you mentioned earlier that your mother really liked that you brought this big paycheck.

KY: Oh, yeah.

TI: How about your father? Did you ever, did he ever talk to you about your work and what it meant to the family?

KY: No. He was, like I said, he was like a playboy. He liked to go out and have a good time. So a lot of his money went to, you know, seemed like, going out and having parties or something. So my mother had to work, and I had to work, and that money went into the family.

TI: So was it a case where... so your mother was the one who took care of the finances?

KY: Oh, yeah.

TI: So, but your, it sounds like your father, with his money that he earned, a lot of that didn't come back to the family?

KY: No, no. He brought some of it to the family, but not enough, you know, to live on. So she depended on herself and myself. Because when we were living in Santa Maria, I was only about fourteen or fifteen, and I was working out in the field with the grownups. But they paid me less money... it was twenty-five cents an hour, and the grownups were making thirty-five cents an hour. But it was a job for me, to know, to go with my mother, and I could drive, I was driving at the time. So I'd take the car and her and I would go to work on the farm. But it was a great help for her, raising the family.

TI: So it almost, at this point then, this was right before the war, you were almost the breadwinner for the family.

KY: That's right, oh, yeah.

TI: Do you think your father saw you also as the breadwinner, or was there any conflict?

KY: No, he wasn't... doesn't seem like he was interested in the family that much. He wanted to go out, stay out and have parties and have a good time, and I figure that was his life. But he's been independent all his life, too, and very stubborn. So my mother kind of gave up on trying to get in to be part of the family. He raised the family, but that's it.

TI: How did you feel about this? Because you had to work extra, to the point where you had to work at nights to help support the family, and you saw your father, in some cases, squandering some money. Did that ever make you resentful of your father?

KY: No, no. I was kind of resentful because he wasn't helping out as much, but I just let it ride. You know, I was the oldest boy, and I just let it ride, because I figured there's nothing you can do about it, because he's an older man. So I just let it ride, and I just went to work myself and helped with the family. And so my kids all knew, my brothers and sisters all knew that I helped the family. And so when they grew up, they knew I worked a lot and raised the family. I had a great life with the kids.

TI: Your father was still the judo instructor.

KY: That's right, yeah.

TI: And in many communities, the judo instructor is viewed as a person of pretty high esteem. I mean, judo, kendo, Japanese language, are all...

KY: Oh, yeah.

TI: So in this community, Redwood City, was your father viewed as one of the more prominent people in the community?

KY: No, no. He was just a teacher. They knew he was a teacher, and that's it. They looked at him as a teacher, and not like a real professional instructor, just as a teacher. That's how he lived. But he never wanted to be no big shot. My father was not like that.

TI: So you've talked a little bit about your father in terms of enjoying, sort of partying, stubborn. What was your mother like? How would you describe your mother?

KY: Oh, my mother was family. She was strictly family. She raised a family, and that's where her interest was, raising the family. Because she had seven kids. And I figure she did great. All the family stayed together until the war started. Then one of my brothers went in the service, but the rest of the family all stayed in Topaz.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.