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TI: Well, so 20 acres, your farm. What type of crops did your farm raise?

TW: They had tomatoes and peas, and beans, and they tried rhubarb down below, and it just didn't work, didn't survive. And then they had a big greenhouse, bring the tomatoes in when they're still green and ripe, and then they had a workhouse next door where my brothers put the boxes together for the tomatoes and pack 'em in there and take them down to the collection place in downtown Bellevue.

TI: Okay, so describe that collection place. So after they would raise these crops, I was going to ask, so where did the crops go?

TW: Yeah, there was a place, well, all the Japanese brought their products down there, produce down there. And I'm trying to remember, do you know where Phantom Lake, have you ever heard of... well, it was right near Phantom Lake. I guess Phantom Lake still exists, doesn't it?

TI: I'm trying to remember this, I know I did an interview earlier. So it was kind of like a collective of some type that the farmers all kind of got organized? And they would bring it here and then that was kind of like a, they would then distribute it to the Seattle market or wherever. Now, do you know if your father was active in terms of the Japanese community in terms of things like the collective or the Buddhist church, all the different things in Bellevue?

TW: No, I don't recall that at all. If they were, I don't.

TI: How about your mother? You mentioned earlier that she was the driver of the family, and you talked about this van. That's a little unusual.

TW: Well, it was, she was unusual in that way and being able to speak English, too. So she did all the business.

BY: How did she learn English so well?

TW: I don't know, except that she was a nurse in Japan, but I don't think she was taught English, but I think she was a fast learner.

TI: And was she involved in any community activities? She could drive, she spoke English. Did she get involved in any community?

TW: They must have been, but I don't recall. I don't recall. Because they would have gatherings every year and things, and they were always present for that. I don't know how much she was involved.

TI: Now, do you recall your mom ever having friends over, like women friends over to the house where she'd have, like, a lunch or something like that?

TW: I don't recall that, my mother doing just that, but we did have friends that did come over. But the Muromotos and the Mizukawas that lived close to us in Highland at that time. But other than that, I don't recall women getting together.

TI: How about your family's interactions with non-Japanese? Did they ever associate or do things with the white population?

TW: Well, we had a German farmer, dairy farmer across the road from us, but I don't think Mom and Dad had anything to do with them, though the kids, their daughter and us, we would play together. But other than that, then I had friends, Loretta Hill about a mile away, and Joy Armstrong that was up another mile away. And those were my friends.

TI: Okay. And do you ever recall community members ever talking about people like the, some of the business leaders in Bellevue? Like oftentimes I read about one of, he's known as one of the founders of modern day Bellevue, Miller Freeman, the Freeman family?

TW: (No).

TI: Did you ever come across that family?

TW: No, I don't think any of us knew at that time of the Freemans.

TI: Okay. I was just curious because historically, they were very prominent Bellevue families and they helped get the floating bridge put in across the lake. I was just curious what kind of interaction you had with maybe some of the Japanese families?

TW: I have no idea.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.