<Begin Segment 7>

[Ed. note: standing on vantage point overlooking the store]

TM: ...we built that facility with the second floor, we moved the office over there.

BF: How do you make the, how are the decisions made to expand? Is it just something that...

TM: Well, it's kind of give and take, you kind of know you need to get some ideas, talk to the family and then if it seems feasible you bring in the architects and things like that.

BF: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

TM: There's an interesting story, when we moved to this building, this used to be a parts -- automobile and marine parts building, this building here. And it was owned by a trust. And when the trust had this lease with the people that they built the building for, they were starting to argue about the rent for the new lease period. And -- well, I don't know -- one way or another we heard about it, so we made an offer. And the trustee was so sick and tired of the existing tenant because they just couldn't get along, so they gave us a chance to rent it. Pretty fair price. And then, so when we took it over, we added this wing and we ran the business for a while, and then we just kept busting at the seams, so we took over that other corner and expanded. In the meantime, it was in trust and we were leasing it, but the trustee through, came to realize they had to spend a lot of money because the building was getting old, or parts of the basement, and they chose not to. So they went to court and the court allowed us to buy it while it was a trust. So you have to be lucky. Things just happen.

BF: When big decisions have to be made, like to buy property, to expand, do you find that the family is usually of one mind? Or, how does that usually work?

TM: Yeah, maybe not one mind, but we talk it over, formally, informally, and keep talking it over. And usually consensus.

BF: Informally? You mean like at the family gatherings? "Hey, want to expand?" [Laughs]

TM: Probably. And when I say "informally," it's not like you're taking minutes or anything like that. But it's, so far it's been pretty straightforward. The problem now is going to be, there'll be different options as you expand. When you're growing, there's limited options, so you kind of grab what's there. But in the future it'll be interesting.

BF: Hmm. Choices to be made. What's one of the bigger choices that...?

TM: Well, one big choice was to get out of the wholesale division and sell that. And then, we ventured into Beaverton, that wasn't the most popular but we were successful there, so do we go into another city, do we expand what we have. You know, those are the choices. It's always said that you're gonna always have more ideas than money.

BF: Uh-huh. Is it unusual, the way -- 'cause you've had a lot of experience with other businesses, other organizations. Do you think the way Uwajimaya's run with almost the entire family in really key roles, is that really unusual? Seems unusual.

TM: In the old days it wasn't unusual. Because families always in farms and especially greenhouses type where they needed a lot of, used to have a lot of family-type enterprises. Unusual may not be, it's kind of rare. First of all, not everybody, not every family has businesses, number one. You know, to start with. And I guess I would think it's fairly rare for family business to -- well, we're the second generation, maybe third, if it goes on to the third or fourth, it is unusual in any circumstance, I guess. I think my observation is if it's harder for just two siblings. But if you have five or six it's easier.

BF: Why?

TM: Well, if you have two, it's either yes or no, one against the other. But if you have four or five or six, then it's kind of a political, critical mass-type, starts to emerge. And then, also, the other thing is if you become large enough, then there's certain elements of a business that people could take what they feel comfortable or they know something about. Where if you're smaller and if you're just two, it starts to get complicated. So it's harder to divide responsibilities, or you may end up with something you really don't like to do. Where if you have enough people, maybe. But it's pretty complicated. I think it's a combination of our parents encouraging us to do what we think is right, and pretty supportive. My mother never -- one thing we have to say, she went out of her way not to show any favoritism. So she treated us pretty equally, so that helped. And it's just the circumstance. I don't think anybody knew our business would grow this fast. When you're on the upswing it's awfully easy. If you start to plateau and go down, it's a different story.

BF: But every -- but six out of seven stayed attracted to the business.

TM: And actually my sister who is not in the business, during college she worked very hard. In fact she ran the Seattle Center World's Fair booth during the summer she was in school. So it's not that she doesn't like business. I think she just enjoys her specialty which is pattern-making and community college. She teaches sewing and manufacturing of clothing. So she's fairly highly specialized in her field, and well-respected, I think.

BF: What do you think is responsible for the rest of the siblings still being so interested in the business? Is it just because it's doing well, and it's, everyone kind of gets to do a certain area and make it their own?

TM: Yeah, probably that, and a combination of we grow -- having grown up on it, and grown up in it. And like I say, my youngest sister married a very nice person from San Francisco, he's an engineer working as a civilian for the naval, and when they found an opening in Bremerton, so they moved up. So it's lot of those little fortunate things. So she wanted to come back to be with the family and mother, and he was able to find a good, comparable job at Bremerton, he was working down in the bay area in naval engineering. So things like that happen. And I think when she moved up, my other sister Hisako was living in Oakland, they decided to move up too. So before you knew it, the whole seven siblings were back together in Seattle. Actually, we live only, maybe fifteen minutes away, especially where my mother used to live, near 12th Avenue. I don't think any of us live more than ten, fifteen minutes away from her.

BF: So a big attraction is family?

TM: Well, probably. Probably we wouldn't admit that. [Laughs] But it's comfortable, family, yeah.

BF: What, now, we've been mentioning that the store's expanding, and this location will -- it's not just expanding, you're moving.

TM: Yes.

BF: So, what's going to be hard about leaving this place? Anything?

TM: Well, it might be hard. We've been here thirty years, but then I haven't been here the last six or seven so maybe it won't be so hard. But it is an old building. And not only is the building old, it wasn't designed for the operation it's being used for now. If you can see, the equipment not only needs refurbishing, but the state-of-the-art in the last ten, fifteen years, has...

BF: Uh-huh, really changed.

TM: ...changed. So, it's probably a good time.

BF: Will the new store still have this homey feel to it?

TM: That will be a challenge. My gut feeling, it'll take a couple years for us to get it back. Because it's going to be pretty fresh and new, and we won't have these little signs and little things hanging right away. We'll do our best, but you're talking 50,000 square feet, and it's...

BF: It's a lot of space.

TM: Yeah. I hope the customers will -- I don't know how you say it -- forgive us or work with us to make it homey. [Laughs] But it's the product and the people that makes it homey, too. Although decor is important. But ultimately, without customers, you're not gonna have a homey place.

BF: Right. Feel kinda lonely.

TM: And if you don't have the product they want... and as you know, most of the products like the instant noodles and the rice cakes, it's pretty colorful. And the produce department is pretty colorful, and the fish, too. Some of the red fish and the... it's pretty colorful.

BF: Yeah, and a lot of the homey-ness is some of the little gadgets that you can find here.

TM: And it's gonna take a couple years to just kind of find the niche, I think. But you know, surprisingly I think, we attract a lot of non-Japanese customers because we are clean, we try to keep our store clean. Not too clean, but at least we try to keep the aisles clean, and somewhat orderly. And I think people appreciate that.

BF: Uh-huh. I think that's very true.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.