<Begin Segment 4>

TI: So tell me what you're, during the day, what did your father and mother do?

JN: Well, my mother would help out. My father would probably go out. He also had two other stores.

TI: Oh, okay, what were those stores?

JN: Same, doing laundry business. So he was busy going in and out all the time.

TI: Okay, so one business was the same building as your home.

JN: Yeah.

TI: Okay, so that was kind of a storefront in the front, and then in the back would be the house?

JN: Exactly.

TI: Can you remember the house part? Like your bedroom, like where you slept?

JN: Oh, yes, very well. The dining room for the family to eat, naptime for my two brothers in a small room, and a family room bedroom. Also, for the business, there were ironing board for the employees, I remember there must have been about four to six people every day ironing. I would only watch, that was me, just watching, because there's nothing else for me to do. There was a kitchen that my, one of the nanny would cook, and on weekends, she would make barazushi, Japanese sushi, all the rice and all the ingredients mixed up. And then she would go home for the weekend. And there's another nanny, they both had the same name, Louisa, and they would take care of my two brothers.

TI: Who would train her or teach her how to make barazushi? Your mother?

JN: Of course, my mother taught her. That was a treat for us on weekends. There were two gentlemen, I remember a room for them, they were Japanese. They helped my father most of the time.

TI: So they worked for your father?

JN: Yes, they did. And also, I'm looking at the, where they're washing, rinsing, I still remember the big tank was for, two big tanks to wash the sheets, mainly sheets. And outside they would dry the sheets, there were ropes hung all along, and then we used the outside to dry the sheets. I remember the chicken, the turkey, the ducks, each one had a different large cage. There were a pigeon that, in a cage that my older brother was very interested.

TI: Now, with the chickens, the turkeys and ducks, were they for pets or for food?

JN: Oh, he loved to raise it, but I'm sure we must have ate some turkey or chicken or duck, yeah. [Laughs] We had a pet dog named Duke. Now, I'm looking further inside the backyard, a nice garden with a pond for the fish. Another thing was a dance hall that my father would entertain all these people from Japan.

TI: So this was in your house?

JN: Yeah, oh, in the back, there would be a special dance hall.

TI: Oh, so tell me about that. So your father would entertain people from Japan?

JN: Yes, because of the way he was getting all the business from the Japanese sailors.

TI: Okay, so they were sailors, and also maybe the military, too?

JN: That I don't know. But yeah, it was a dance hall with a piano for entertainment, record players.

TI: And how many people would be at these parties, do you remember?

JN: No, no, I don't remember anything.

TI: Did your father have a car? Did he own a car?

JN: A car? If we're looking at the pictures, probably he did have a car, Model T, probably.

TI: But you don't remember driving in it.

JN: No, I don't remember. But traveling with the family to the beach or getting some ice cream, of course, with a car that we got on, but didn't believe that was my father's car.

TI: Oh, so like he had someone drive you there?

JN: Probably, yeah.

TI: Your mother, what did she do during the day?

JN: Oh, like I said, she helped out with the business.

TI: So did she go to the other places, too, or did she stay in the...

JN: Stayed inside the house, yeah.

TI: And when you say she helps, how did she help? Did she manage, or did she iron or did she wash?

JN: Oh, probably did everything to help out. Because... to supervise, probably.

TI: And you mentioned people coming to do the ironing, the workers. Were they Japanese or were they...

JN: No, they were local people, Spanish people. And doing business for that long, my father and mother, they were fluently Spanish-speaking, both of them. They learned how to speak.

TI: And how about you? What languages did you speak?

JN: At home, the nanny probably spoke to us in Spanish at home, and our parents probably both Spanish and Japanese.

TI: How about you and your siblings? When you spoke to each other, what did you speak?

JN: Oh, I don't think I was a very good brother. No, I probably spoke to them in Spanish, probably.

TI: Spanish?

JN: Yeah, Spanish.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.