<Begin Segment 15>

DG: Then maybe we can start with the resettlement, coming back to Seattle. How did you start making preparations to come back?

NS: Well, we... my mother had a house here. But during the war, before we decided to come back, the lawyer had sold the house. And so he was instructed to find another house for my mother, which he did, and Mother, of course, wanted to come back to Seattle and so...

DG: The house was in your name.

NS: Was in my name, uh-huh.

DG: Because there was some correspondence related to it.

NS: That's right. And so it had to be in my name because Japanese nationals couldn't own property, and so a good many put their purchases in their children's names and that's how my name got onto the purchase of the house.

DG: So why didn't you hang onto the house?

NS: The house had renters. The things that Mother left in the house were all shipped and sent to Spokane, and the people that were in the house wanted to buy the house. So the lawyer thought that would be better and made negotiations to sell the house. And when Mother decided to come back...

DG: Well, did you get a fair price for the house?

NS: I imagine for the time, it was okay. And so she was able to buy another house in a different location, probably about the same price, which the lawyer did for her. And so we came back to Seattle.

DG: Was that a exciting time or how did you feel about it?

NS: Well, it was time for my, the oldest boy to start school. And so we came back and we looked for a house and we lived with her for a while until we found a house for ourselves, but it was a place to start.

DG: Was there a lot of bad feelings when you came back at all?

NS: No. We were fortunate in that we found a house that -- and a good neighbor that made friends very easily. My mother lived there until she died. And the neighbor, of course, was very friendly.

DG: Where was this; what part of the city?

NS: This was on Thirty-first, and it was in the Madrona district. It was not very far from Aki's house. Up in the -- I think she was on the same street.

DG: Were there areas where Japanese couldn't go?

NS: Yes. I think that there were areas that were restricted. And in a good many, good many places there were restrictions put on, so that one couldn't move into the area. But where we were there were a lot of war workers that came in and a lot of the war workers were colored people. And so I don't think the Japanese people wanted to go back to the same areas again. And so my mother found, or...

DG: This was more toward the central area you're talking about?

NS: It was in the Madrona area, which is central.

DG: So you went outside the real central area though.

NS: We were on Eighteenth and Lane, which was on the border of the Japanese community. And then when the colored people moved in during the war, why -- and all of the houses around there were not available for purchase, my mother moved to this other area. There were a few other Japanese families that moved into the same area, and my mother found the neighbor very friendly and helpful. So she lived there until she died.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.