<Begin Segment 26>

TI: So we're kind of coming to the end of this interview and I'm kind of doing more, almost like reflections and thoughts about the Japanese community in the Yakima Valley and what's going to happen in the future. Your family from your great-grandfather has been very involved in the community. What do you see for the future? First with, say, the Inaba family had now five generations, at least five generations in the valley. I mean, with the farm being sold, how do you think that's going to impact the Inaba family in Yakima?

LI: Well, it's a good question. But you know, just like all of agriculture, the children in those farming families are leaving to do other things. I have two nieces, one's going to be a doctor, the other one is working for the state. My son actually has decided to come back to the farm, and so he's our marketing guy, he's learning marketing. But the one good thing is he doesn't have to do everything like what we're doing, and there's going to be a lot bigger staff, and there's going to be more structure to that. And so I'm hoping maybe someday the tribe will want to adopt me or something like that. [Laughs] But I guess I'm old enough to be considered an elder, so I don't plan to go anywhere. I just want to start playing around in my shop and maybe spend a little bit more time on vacation.

TI: And kind of a similar question for just the Japanese American community. I know you've been involved in setting up some kind of, like, more permanent structures. I mean, tomorrow we're going to go out to the cemetery, and I know there's some things out there. I've looked at pictures of things like the Buddhist Temple, I know there are other memorials. So there will always be, kind of, I think the Japanese, the Japanese American story around. But in terms of the community, what do you see like in twenty, thirty, fifty years?

LI: I think they're going to blend with everybody else. My wife is of Swedish descent, my son is Korean, my niece is getting married to a Ukrainian. You know, that's just the way the world works, I think. And ethnic purity is probably not that important anymore. I don't know, I think that it's a healthy system.

TI: So, Lon, I've reached the end of my questions. Is there anything else, Kimi or Yuka, that you'd like to ask? And while they're thinking, Lon, is there anything else that you want to add or say?

LI: Well, when you look back on those Issei pioneers, my uncle George passed away a few years ago, and my dad's brother George. And when we put the headstone for my dad's brother George, we thought, "Let's put up the headstone for my grandmother's brother, Uncle George." Because his headstone was in (the old section of) Tahoma (cemetery) and was kicked over, and the only thing left was a little square of concrete, temporary marker that said "Norikawa," it was even spelled wrong. And we would put flowers on that grave for many years, just because we thought that's my great uncle George. But when we looked up when he was born and when he died, we found he was born in 1911, he died in 1913, and his name was George Washington Morikawa. [Laughs] And when you think back on that, you say wow, they really wanted to integrate into the American society. And it's tough, but I think that's common with a lot of immigrants to the area. It's not like they were so loyal to their mother country. They came to America to make a new life, I think. And so I think with that in mind, you kind of go, wow. I think that's what the Japanese immigration was all about.

TI: And I think that's very much the power of these stories, and asking about them, preserving them, so that they do become part of their story.

LI: Cool.

TI: Well, thank you so much.

<End Segment 26> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.