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VY: Talk a little bit about that over time, how that has changed, specifically for your nurseries. The different kinds of workers that you had working for you, your employees, compared to people working in the family for you?

FN: Well, all of our workers that we had were mostly Mexican, and they were immigrants, and they had large families and they came to have a steady income, and to improve their lives from what they had come from. But you know what? I feel that most immigrants would not come to the United States if their conditions were better in their country. They only come seeking a better life. And so the children of our employees, they all went to local schools, speaking English, of course, they're bilingual. But the children of our employees, they've done very, very well. And many of them have gone to universities and become professionals, and so each generation will keep improving on their ability to earn income because they're becoming better educated, they're becoming better trained. And besides, their children are Americans, so they're going to do very, very well, I think. One thing that still bothers me today is that even though I'm an American citizen, people still look on me as an immigrant. And I have never lived in Japan, I've never gone to school in Japan, so I cannot read and write, but people still think of me as an immigrant. And so people have to stop and think when they're talking to people. Well, no matter who you are, you have to respect people, but it's really, really strange, especially since I'm Asian, that people still think of me as an immigrant, and I'm not an immigrant.

VY: What would you say to people that still think that way?

FN: Well, when people ask me, "When did you come to the United States, and how come you could speak English?" I just tell them, "I'm an American. I've never lived in Japan, I've visited Japan, never lived in Japan. And I respect the country for all the culture, all the development, but I'm an American."

VY: Do you tell people that your family has been here for more than a hundred years?

FN: Well, I do tell them that, I do tell them that. And I'm not really third-generation, but I am an American, and I want to be sure that people understand that. I think that, like I said, people would not immigrate to the United States if this were not the country where you could really develop yourself, improve on your family situation, you become a citizen if you're born here. I think that's really helpful, I think it's helpful.

VY: What do you think about people that are trying to immigrate today, and they experiences they're going through?

FN: Well, I think that it's difficult to come to the United States to live, because you really have to understand the country. I think that it's... people think that, some people think that they don't have to work hard to do well in the United States, but I know that's not true. I think that it's just really a place of opportunity, but you have to be ready to, you have to be prepared to seize your opportunities. The people that have done well have been trained or have worked hard and studied hard. And so we should have people come to this country that are immigrating, because we need people; we need people. And I think that we need to welcome immigrants to this country, I truly believe that. But you're not going to get a free ride, you have to work for it. Does that answer your question?

VY: Yeah.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.