<Begin Segment 8>

JN: Okay, after the war, what did your family do? Did they come straight back to Bainbridge Island? What was it like when they returned?

TE: We came straight back to Bainbridge Island. We came back on the train with most of the families. And it seemed about the same as I remembered. We went back to our same house. I think the lawn was not as well kept up as before. But, it was still... the house was the same as I remembered it.

JN: Who took care of your property? Did somebody live here? Or not you know... live in your home?

TE: Yeah... Johnny Cadawas was supposed to look after the farm and I think he lived in the house. But I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure. I heard one of the Filipinos said, "Oh, we used to have parties here all the time." So, it might have been a party house.

JN: Were they neighbors?

TE: Who?

JN: This family that lived here.

TE: No, he was a single man. So I don't know if he had other friends that stayed with him or what. You know, they don't tell us kids details. Especially Japanese didn't tell details. You do what you're told.

JN: But when you came back, what you recall, the house was pretty much the same. And the yard was a little less...

TE: Neglected. Yeah.

JN: As far as your belongings, were they all okay?

TE: I think so. The furniture seemed like what we had before.

JN: How does, how were you treated by the non-white people on Bainbridge when you returned?

TE: I don't remember being any different, really. In fact, there were kids from the Navy families that were in our same grade and they didn't seem to be particularly annoying or anything.

JN: You didn't feel any hostilities?

TE: No.

JN: Tell us about the successes and failures your family... your father and his brothers had trying to resume farming on Bainbridge after the war.

TE: Let's see. I think they really started farming up in Burlington more than here. Then after they had a hard time up in Burlington -- they had a bad flood and they lost the whole crop -- then they started farming on Bainbridge, not as, I think, as large a scale as they used to farm, but they did some. And I think they did okay.

JN: Who was in Burlington that they did... did they have property there in Burlington?

TE: No, I think they, they just rented property up there.

JN: Because it was a bigger area?

TE: Yeah.

JN: So did they farm with the Sakuma brothers?

TE: No, they were on their own. But they did hire some college kids that were from the island to help them with some of the chores and things.

JN: Their farming on Bainbridge, who helped them? And did they have non-Japanese helpers from the Filipino families or the Native American families?

TE: Yeah, mostly the people who helped were... that was before the war were, we used to have, I don't know, have the bunkhouse for the Filipino men, 'cause they couldn't have women come over and marry them either. So, that was sort of off limits for me too, not to go bother them. But I, sometimes I used to go there and jump on their beds with my not too clean shoes. [Laughs] But they, I mean, I think they sort of treated me like a little sister. 'Cause I think they were probably in their twenties or in their teenage years too.

JN: Do you characterize yourself as being a little rebel or being, or just being more adventurous than your brothers and sister?

TE: No, no. Hisa was the one that was into everything. My uncle used to call her the mouse, the little mouse, 'cause she used to scurry here and there and everywhere.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.