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DH: So then you're the youngest of the six children who were born here on Bainbridge Island, and then you lived in the Japanese community. I've heard it called Jap Town, Jap Village, at Port Blakely. And you were telling me a little bit about life, what life was like there. You go to the Buddhist Church and Baptist Mission. Tell me a little more about that.

IN: Well, my recollection is that -- the mills shut down when, after about, I was about eight years old -- so what I remember of Port Blakely is that there was all the company buildings, homes, that we lived in. And among other buildings they had a restaurant and the Takayoshi family had this grocery store, tea house and it had a piano and it had a dance hall. People would come from all over and they would, one of the girls could play the piano and they would dance. And then for recreation we had a place between the Buddhist Church and the Baptist Mission, a makeshift playground, and all the kids in the whole town would come play baseball and whatever we felt like doin' and that was our recreation. Although the Port Blakely Japanese Town had a baseball team called the Nishiki, which is, I think the emblem was a maple leaf that they wore on their uniform. And they played various teams from around the Sound, and they came by one of the mosquito boats usually to Fort Ward where they played their games.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.