<Begin Segment 3>

DG: So can you tell me, what, what did you do on the farm when you were young, before the war? You were a senior in high school...

AS: Before the war?

DG: Yes, what was your job?

AS: Well, I used to help my dad out. That's all. You know, we'd, in the winter most of the time we dug ditches to keep the water and drain out. We did, we did a lot of hand digging of ditches. Until I got a backhoe... got enough money to buy a backhoe, so I didn't have to do all the hand and pick shovel work. [Laughs]

DG: Did you help clear the land or was that your father?

AS: What?

DG: Did you help clear the land, originally?

AS: What kind of land?

DG: Clear it. Get the, take the trees away. Did you help with that?

AS: Yeah. That was all on forestry when my dad bought it. Forty acres. And he had the whole thing logged. You know he never got one penny for it?

DG: Why was that?

AS: You know how loggers were sixty, hundred years ago? They, they were cheaters. You know, they were crooks. Soon as they get done logging things they pack up and leave. Where you gonna find them? We had forty acres of timber, nice timber. My dad never got a penny.

DG: Did he try to find them?

AS: Huh?

DG: Did you try to find them?

AS: We found them but they wouldn't pay.

DG: What did they say?

AS: They don't say nothin'. They just said they don't owe no money. [Laughs] I worked, too. I cut wood by hand, get it, and sold cord wood, you know, and many of them were never paid for. All we got is cheated, all our lives. I'm, I'm tired of it. You get what I mean? Before the war, it was a lot different. People cheated us if they got the chance. Just like, you know, we were downgraded. So, before the war it was kind of rough, because Japanese, a lot of them, you know, a lot of them got cheated out of this, cheated out of that. And my dad, he cut wood, too, in the wintertime because we were, you know, we didn't have enough money. He had, we had six kids in the family, so... there were a lot of cords of wood that never got paid for. I just... I, I look at life a little bit different than he did. So, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and maybe he's right. I don't know, I mean...

DG: How was your opinion different than your dad's?

AS: How is opinion what?

DG: How, how was your opinion different than your father's?

AS: Well, my dad was more lenient. When I came back from the service and I went into business, you know, I took over because my dad couldn't do much. I was more strict. Cash up front or forget it. Just walk out of here. You know, I was more meaner. I mean, my dad, his, you know, he would smile and say, "Oh yeah, pay it next week." That, that next week never came. But me, I'm a little bit different. That log, that one piece I had, bring it up front first, then we'll talk business. So, I did things different than my dad. My dad was more lenient, you know. I don't know if that was better, or... it was better for the public probably, maybe? But not, not for the family. You know... but you don't realize what my parents went through. I mean, you don't realize it, but I realize it now that I know what I went through. Things were tough. I mean, really tough. Yeah, we used to, I know in the fall we used to, my dad used to go down there to the fishing boat and buy all the cheapest fish we can buy and can it, put in our... and have that for the winter. We couldn't afford nothing else. Bought rice, that's about all. I mean, it was a tough life. I mean, people don't realize it.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.