Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Frank Miyamoto Interview I
Narrator: Frank Miyamoto
Interviewer: Stephen Fugita
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Date: February 26, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-mfrank-01-0007

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SF: In terms of the relationships between fellow ken people -- if, for example, your dad had this business and he brought people in from the same ken, what was the sense of obligation with regard to say your dad to the workers and the workers to your dad and once that got going and say they, the workers saved up enough money and they started their own furniture store or hotel or whatever the case may be, you'd think that that would be competition, so, did the sense of trying to help a fellow ken person sort of override the, the potential competition? What was the sort of, yeah, the interpersonal relationships between the original sort of helper versus the new guy and how much he was supposed to be helped and what did he, what did he owe the boss for being set up?

FM: On the competition matter, it's very interesting that these businesses, the hotel business, the guy who works in cleaners business, the grocery business and so on, often set up their own business association and then these business associations had rules or set up rules such as that no Japanese should set up a competing shop within a certain area, block distance from the one that already exists in Japanese hands. And therefore, ken people might bring in, I mean help others get started in business, but then there would be this other kind of understanding and rule that they would not impinge on each other. And so there were ways of controlling that kind of thing, which the Japanese used effectively, I think, in controlling the development of their businesses. As for the basic sense of obligation, it's not very clear as to just exactly how these things functioned. People simply felt -- well it's a bond, the Japanese basically have, the feeling that if you encounter another Japanese and then you have some kind of obligation to them simply as a fellow Japanese. And then the closer the relationship is, the more deeply these obligations are felt. Obviously if one is a member of the same family, (a) strong obligation exist, if they are relatives, that is a secondary obligation, ken person, coming from same territory is a third level obligation and so on. And so the depth of obligation extends outward to include all Japanese in a sense. Now ken relationships then were thought to be -- the Japanese are basically a very strong territorially oriented people. That is to say, where you come from makes a big difference for, or at least among Issei it did. And still I think, it still does in Japan. That place, the geographical location is a factor in the sense of closeness or obligations that you feel. Therefore if you come from the same ken, for Japanese there is some feeling initially of belonging together and then this common identity in turn creates this basis of identity, of obligation. So when it comes to finding work for other Japanese immigrants for example, ken people would often cluster together and once they started working together, they would even provide living space or means of livelihood, even including helping with money, loans and things of this kind. To illustrate one point, as my family moved upward socially, moving from one house to another, we had at one point a fairly large house on Jackson Street and I can remember to this day that we, that is the Miyamoto family lived in this house, but also that my father had two of his workers living on the third level of this fairly large house, as a good... not because, not so much because we had to have people living to increase our income, living with us to increase our income, but rather because he felt he had to help them find living space and help their, their savings and so on and so provided living space for them at least initially and in due course, these men moved out and found, established their own place. But this is the type of relationship which existed among ken people.

SF: So like, well the workers that stayed with your family, they must have felt a lot of loyalty and obligation for being helped out and did, went the extra mile to, to, as workers and stuff like.

FM: Yes. I think that's true. The employer feels obligations toward his employees, but in turn as he does things for them, there is the, yeah, reciprocal factor that comes in. And in fact I thought, I always thought this was rather characteristic of the Japanese community or Japanese society.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.