<Begin Segment 3>

JD: So before you left Bainbridge, you didn't do too much work on the farm or in the garden?

JH: No, I didn't.

JD: You had kind of a protected childhood situation?

JH: That's right, yeah. Well, there's Issei Creek that goes by here now, I used to spend a lot of time at Issei Creek fishing for rainbow trout. In those days, we didn't have catch and release, we just catch. [Laughs]

JD: Catch and eat.

JH: Yeah, that's right.

JD: Your dad, first building the farm and then building Bainbridge Gardens, did they, who was the labor? Was it primarily other Japanese immigrants, or were there Filipinos?

JH: There were Filipinos, yeah, most of them were Filipino workers. They had separate houses, it's now gone, but back in the woods. They were very loyal and good workers. We got to know 'em well. And strangely enough, I never realized this, but they used to eat at our home because they had no facilities to cook. And it was part of the bargain, is that, "You get a meal." Fudgie Sakuma, Fudgie Koba Sakuma used to be a checker down here in Thriftway, she worked at Bainbridge Gardens and she was a very important person because she was bilingual. And before she died I showed Fudgie some pictures, family collections that I had and she was very much part of that album, pictures. And I asked Fudgie, I said, "Fudgie, how much did my dad pay you?" And she says, "A dollar a day." I said, "My god, my dad was a cheapskate, giving you a dollar a day." And she said, "No, no, no. We got a dollar a day and we got to sleep in the attic, which is room and board, right? And then we ate at your house."

JD: So that was a pretty good deal.

JH: Pretty good deal.

JD: Were there many Native Americans on the island? Were they ever working for your mom and dad?

JH: Yes, there were Native Americans, and they worked as berry pickers. You talk about discrimination, that was an era of Bainbridge Island that was totally terrible for how they treated those Native Americans. It was a shameful thing in many ways. We, and I include myself, treated them roughly and with very little respect. That will live with me, too. I'll never forget that, and hopefully they will all forgive me. But I was listening to the wrong people.

JD: You didn't know young children of the Native American families when you were little? They weren't running around in the woods and fishing?

JH: Oh, yes they were.

JD: They were.

JH: They weren't fishing, but they were running around in the woods.

JD: One thing I'm curious about... maybe we could talk a little bit more about the transition from Bainbridge Island to Moses Lake. There was such a very short time for anyone to make plans, come up with a, whether they would stay put and go along with the order, the executive order, or if they would move. And it's difficult to imagine how your father could have figured out an alternative to transplant the family and leave all of his work behind.

JH: Well, my father didn't do it because it was done by a gentleman by the name of Kamekichi Shibayama. And there was a story about him, I think, in the Seattle Times, if I'm not mistaken. But anyway, Kamekichi jumped ship in Eagle Harbor. No, excuse me, Port Blakely Harbor. He jumped ship, and he was penniless. And he swam to shore and he was thirsty. And by luck, he knocked on a door, and there was a Japanese living in this house. And they asked him in, gave him water and food, and eventually he was a very resourceful man and he had three jobs. He washed dishes and he'd do some... but he was always busy. And he accumulated quite a fortune, multimillionaire. He passed away as a multimillionaire. But in between that time, there was this disruption of moving to Moses Lake, and he was the one that found out that the Executive Order 9066 allowed certain people to live east of the Cascade range, to move there, and not have to go to camp. Well, they did that for a very short period of time and then they decided to close the doors. But we got there in time, and you're right, it'd be interesting to find out how they did that, because I had no idea. Well, I didn't even know it was going on. But anyway, Mr. Shibayama was very resourceful. I think he had attorneys, too, at the time, because he by that time had bought a lot of these multi-complex hotels.

JD: What year did he jump ship and swim ashore?

JH: I can't tell you exactly when that was. Unfortunately, well, there's still some sons and daughters, but it'd be kind of interesting to find out.

JD: In 1942, was he living here or was he already east of the mountains and invited people to...

JH: There's a yellow house right across from Bainbridge Gardens, he lived there. We had 22 acres at that time with the old Bainbridge Gardens site. And my uncle and my father were partners. Well, my uncle is the son-in-law of Kamekichi Shibayama, and he was involved in some of the decisions of Bainbridge Gardens, and he was a very astute person. I think that's why it happened.

JD: Does Mr. Shibayama, he still has children who live here?

JH: Yes, yes. Well, Michi Tsukada, I don't know if you've heard that name, she just died about a half a year ago, she was the daughter. But there's two sons and another daughter, one son died. I think there were seven of them. And there's two ladies, yeah. But anyway, they're all around this area, in Seattle mostly.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.