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TI: But before we go there, I still... there's just so many stories about Bellevue that you have that I want to keep talking about this. You also mentioned you had a big furo also, and I'm just curious, like, what the routine was? Like how frequently you and the rest of the family took a bath, and was there, like a sequence in terms of who went first and second? Like who made the fire, who heated the water, can you just describe all that?

TW: Yeah, Grandpa made the fire, and he got the, it was a huge tub, this square. So the whole family can get in. There were stairs that led up to it, and there was no rail on the side, but there was a great big fall if you were to fall down. And then we all soaked in the tub at the same time.

TI: Wow, so it was like a big hot tub then?

TW: Yeah, well, exactly. That's what it would be called now.

TI: So that's different than the more traditional furo where they're smaller.

TW: No, it was for the family.

TI: And generally what time of day would the family...

TW: Eveningtime.

TI: So this is after dinner, everything gets put away and then you would go soak in the tub?

TW: (Yes).

TI: Any fond memories of soaking in the tub, I mean, what types of things... because you were still a kid and you're with the grandfather, the parents, I mean, what types of things would happen? People would just sit there, or would you guys talk?

TW: I think mostly we sat there. I don't recall any important conversations.

TI: [Laughs] Yeah, this is just unusual, because I usually don't hear of the whole family taking the bath. Usually it's a smaller tub and there's like, maybe the kids go first.

TW: No, the whole family can get into this tub.

TI: And I'm guessing, before people got in the tub, there was an area to wash?

TW: Yeah, like they do in Japan.

TI: Yeah, so this is almost like a public bath size in terms of, I'm thinking of, in Seattle, I've seen some of the bathhouses and that's more like a hot tub.

TW: (Yes).

TI: Now, did any neighbors or anything ever come and use the hot tub?

TW: Never.

TI: Okay, it was strictly family.

TW: I think they had their own.

TI: And what about chores? I know you were pretty young, you were still, like you mentioned, ten or eleven when the war started off. But before the war, did you have any chores that you were responsible for?

TW: Well, I was responsible for taking food to the (Filipino) people we hired, because they lived in a (Filipino) house away from the family house. So Mom would cook the dinners, the meals, and I'd take it to them. But then one day, one guy got fresh and I just told Mom, "I ain't going there anymore," and I never had to. But I do remember that.

TI: Oh, that must have been hard. Can you tell me a little bit more about what happened? So you were... and what kind of food were you bringing and what happened?

TW: Well, I think we didn't cook that much Japanese food, it was just American food. And whatever we had, we shared it with them, the workers. And then we also had, like I say, the Seattle boys come, but they stayed in the main house upstairs.

TI: When you told your mother that you didn't feel comfortable going back there, what was her reaction?

TW: Well, I just said I wasn't going back there, and that was the end of it.

TI: And so she didn't make you go back after that?

TW: No, no, she never questioned. I'm sure she knew what had happened, I think, because she never made me do it again.

TI: And was it, sort of, just an inappropriate touch?

TW: Yeah, that kind of thing.

TI: Okay. Describe the building that the workers lived in. You said it was sort of a house for the workers. Is it like a bunkhouse?

TW: Oh, it was quite large, if I remember. But I don't think, I think it just had sleeping areas and not cooking facilities or anything like that. So I think there were like four of them that could sleep in there.

TI: So like just maybe a big room with, like, four beds?

TW: Four beds, bunkbeds.

TI: And how about your older brothers? I mean, did they have to help out on the farm?

TW: Oh, they definitely did.

TI: Describe that. What did Rye and Tatsumi...

TW: Oh, they had a lot of work to do. Well, they had they truck to bring the food in and things, so I think Tats was like fifteen, underage for driving, but he was able to drive the truck and bring the produce into the barn. But they worked hard being boys out on the farm.

TI: And then how about your younger sister? Did she have to do anything?

TW: No.

TI: Yeah, Tom was really young, so he was a kid. There was something else talking about the house. The farm had, it was actually bought in the name of a man named Kumagai, I think you mentioned? Who was this man?

TW: He was a person that Mom and Dad knew that was old enough and was a citizen. You know, the Isseis, not being citizens, couldn't own property. And Rye wasn't old enough yet, so that's how we put it in Kumagai's name. And then Kumagai went back to Japan right before the war, and didn't get back until after the war.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.