<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So let's start talking a little bit about you now. You mentioned that you were born at 921 Lane Street.

TT: Uh-huh.

TI: Can you describe that house or that place?

TT: Well, it was two-story, three story building, and it was right there where the freeway is now. And so... do you know Rabbit Honda, their family, Rabbit and Michi? Well, they were there, and so we got to know some of the older people at that time. But I don't know what we did or why. All I know is we lived there and then we went to... and then from there we moved up to 23rd and Jackson. So school-wise, we went to Rainier school first, and then moved from there down to 18th Avenue and started going to Washington school.

TI: But because the building's not there anymore, the freeway took it out, I'm just curious. So a three-story building, how many families lived in that...

TT: There were three families.

TI: So everyone had their own floor?

TT: Yah.

TI: And so what floor was your family on?

TT: I don't know, I think in the middle. I don't know.

TI: Okay, so you can't really remember.

TT: No, can't remember anything about the... we never talked about that.

TI: And then when you went up to 23rd and Jackson...

TT: Yah, we were kind of, a couple blocks.

TI: And do you remember that place at all?

TT: Well, I just remember it because we have a picture of us all standing on the front porch, and it was on 23rd Avenue.

TI: Okay. And then from there you went to the 18th and Weller place.

TT: Uh-huh.

TI: And do you remember that place?

TT: Well, more, because by then I think I must have been about a teenager. We moved from one house to the next, and we just stayed in that area until the war. And we used to play baseball, you know, on 18th and Weller was a place where everybody gathered, and a lot of Japanese people were there.

TI: I'm trying to think what's there right now. So it's not that far from... St. Peter's church is on King, and then Weller...

TT: Do you know the Kawada family?

TI: I know of them.

TT: Imanishis? Well, they live in that house across the street now. They've been there since before the war. But we were right across the street from them.

TI: So is your old house still there?

TT: It's still there.

TI: And describe the house.

TT: Just a little tiny one-bedroom house.

TI: Wow, for six of you?

TT: Six of us.

TI: So what was the sleeping arrangements like with one bedroom? Who got the bedroom?

TT: Well, see, the only thing I remember is after we got older, and having my younger sister, my mother slept with my younger sister 'cause she had to take care of her, and I ended up sleeping with my father. See, my father, and then my other two sisters slept in the other bed. We had two double beds. And one day, my oldest sister said, "You know, if you sleep with a man, you're gonna have a baby." And she says I just froze in bed, and I'd just sleep against the wall. And one day she went and touched me and I just jumped. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, interesting.

TT: But that's all we had, we had that, and then we had a bathroom, and we had a living room, and that's where we just had a radio, no TV. This was all before TV or anything. But we played outside a lot.

TI: And tell me about that. So did you play with your sisters or with other kids in the neighborhood?

TT: With other kids in the neighborhood. We used to play volleyball, we used to play Kick the Can, we used to play anything you could do outside. And then the only time we were inside is when we all listened to the radio, and we'd all gather and listen to "One Man's Family" and that type of stuff.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.