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BF: It's October 20, 1999 and this is an interview for Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project. And the narrator is Tomio Moriguchi and the interviewer is Becky Fukuda. Tomio, we were talking a little earlier before we started filming, about what generation you consider yourself, 'cause your father was Issei, but your mother was Kibei so, how -- what, what do you consider yourself, Sansei, or Nisei?

TM: Well, in Japan I guess I'm considered Nisei because my, they go by the father's generation. But I kinda use both sometime I'm considered Sansei. In fact, I remember when I first got involved with the Seattle chapter of the JACL, they wanted to label me as a Sansei because most of the active people were Niseis prior to me coming on board so they wanted to boost the Sansei, so I said well, I'm a Sansei then. [Laughs] I probably culturally, and most of the older people consider myself, I mean think of myself as Nisei and I probably feel more like a Nisei than Sansei I think.

BF: Most of your friends are probably -- most of your Japanese American friends are Nisei?

TM: No. Most of 'em are Sansei --

BF: Oh, really?

TM: Actually, yeah.

BF: Oh!

TM: But, and if I was a pure Nisei, I'd probably be the, one of the younger Niseis as such.

BF: Mmm, that's true.

TM: I think the average age of the Nisei is probably ten years older than I am, something like that, maybe more.

BF: That's true. So let's start with a little bit of the family history, starting with your father's side. Could you give me your father's name and tell me a little bit about what his family, where he came from and what they did when they were in Japan, their occupation?

TM: My father is Fujimatsu Moriguchi and I guess he was the oldest of about, five children, two, two sons and three daughters. He was the oldest. And his parents owned a small, mikan, or a -- the Japanese orange -- orchard, only twenty or thirty trees, but they were probably, not wealthy, but probably small landowner, farmers. And he went through the mandatory ninth grade education, then he went to a city called Uwajima to learn the fish business. So he was either interested in the fish business or the farm and, business, and the village he was born in wasn't large enough to probably accommodate him. Also about that time, he was telling me, Japan was in a depression, or economy was bad, so, so he came to the United States. But prior to that, about the turn of the century, which is about twenty years before my dad came, fortunately a number of villagers came to the United States, primarily the Tacoma area, and did very well. A few did very well, the restaurant business, and other business. So lot of the young people from the area my father came from did come to United States seeking their fortune because they had some contacts and they could always do dish -- dishwashing work, or work in a restaurant, or things like that.

BF: So he already knew people in the United States, and knew he could sort of get a job, or have a place to stay.

TM: Friend of a friend type of situation.

BF: Yeah. But he was the oldest, so he wasn't expected to carry on the family business, or it wouldn't support two sons, or how did that work?

TM: Probably not. I don't know the details, but I, I think he had his desire to make some money and go back, I think.

BF: Ah.

TM: And, but he did, he did lose his mother young -- when he was younger. But he did call his brother and father once he established a business here. And what he did that for, I, I have to just surmise that he did that to just show what he has accomplished and maybe he was gonna go back. I don't know, but...

BF: How interesting.

TM: The house that he was born in is still there. And I haven't stayed there, but I've seen the house a number of time. I tend to stay with my cousin who has a little newer house.

BF: So the business though, doesn't exist any more? The mikan?

TM: Well, it wasn't a business, it was just a small orchard. And they still own it, and they do contract with other people to run it now, yeah, all they do is help with the harvest. In fact, they, this November they, November they will all, the whole family will get together and they will start the harvest process, for the mikan.

BF: Interesting.

TM: I've been there in December and helped with harvest a couple of times.

BF: Oh really?

TM: It's a, it's a interesting thing, yeah.

BF: Yeah. Now, so he, he actually, sort of started Uwajimaya? I mean, it was, the origins of the business are with him. And yet he didn't, so he didn't come from a merchant or retail background himself?

TM: No, but apparently he was always into business. But my mother comes from a merchant family. My mother Tsutakawa. Her maiden name was Tsutakawa. And they had a business on Dearborn Street in about the 1900s. So, and my grandfather had a business in Kobe and Seattle and also Everett and north they were exporting lumber or logs I understand a hundred years ago.

BF: Wow. So your, your mother's side, it was the grandfather, it was your grandfather, her father who immigrated and so she was born here, in the U.S.

TM: Born here, and as not unusual, she was sent back to Japan when she was about five and went through the high school system. And then she came here, a little later than most, but she came back when she was about twenty-five, or twenty-three, or four.

BF: Wow.

TM: And then I gotta just guess that she was probably introduced to my father because he was already in business, and they had a business connection. I don't know, but --

BF: It was arranged then?

TM: I'm guessing it was. In those days I guess it was pretty common, yeah. 'Cause culturally there was kind of a mismatch as far as I was concerned.

BF: In what way? What do you --

TM: Well, my mother comes from a family where they had servants, and nice house in Okayama, and a very nice house in Seattle, so, ah, I shouldn't say that. But, she was probably a little older than most, and I don't know. Some relation, it was interesting.

BF: Now, because she came from a family with much more experience in business, and exporting and retailing, do you think that her influence was, was important in your dad starting Uwajimaya?

TM: Well, I'm sure it is. Because she worked very hard. And she probably understood. In those days they had to feed the employees and things like that, and she did that. So I think it was a culture that she understood what she had to do, her role as a merchant, a family of a merchant. I think she understood that. Yeah. But the other thing is, my father already had the business going when they got married, which is probably a little unusual also, but...

BF: That's true, that's true. So it was really, it was -- he already had the idea, but it was this, it was probably a strong partnership, like you were saying.

TM: Also, he probably, I don't know, but he probably was thinking when he started the business, he would just make some money and go back. But maybe he said, well, time to get married, I don't know what the story is, but I'm glad it worked out whatever way it worked out.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.