Densho Digital Archive
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community Collection
Title: Frank Kitamoto Interview
Narrator: Frank Kitamoto
Interviewer: John DeChadenedes
Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington
Date: April 14, 2007
Densho ID: denshovh-kfrank-02-0003

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JD: I'd like to talk about your family's relationship with Felix Narte and that whole family. Can you tell us when your parents first met Felix?

FK: Well, my understanding was Felix left the Philippines when he was pretty young, like in his teens. And went to Hawaii and worked there for a while in the pineapple fields. And then, and then came to the United... well, the mainland here mainly to find employment in Seattle for, in the cannery and stuff. And I have a feeling that he, he's kind of a free spirit and he probably didn't like working in the plantations very much. So he came over here, and I think they kind of followed seasonal work when the cannery wasn't going so they'd travel to different places like Eastern Washington or Central Washington to pick apples or whatever. And then come to Bainbridge Island when the berry season was over here. And I think he first started working for the Hayashidas and then eventually started working for my grandparents, my mother's parents. And when my father and mother purchased the farm from my grandfather when he went back to Japan, he continued to work for my, for my parents.

JD: How old was he, do you know?

FK: You know, Felix is the same age as my mother. So, he... you know, I know my, my mother was born in 1906, so he had to be in his... when he, when he worked on the farm he had to be in his early twenties, and, when he first started working for us, or working for my grandparents anyway.

JD: At that time, when your grandparents were farming, were there a lot of Filipino Americans on the island? And what was the relationship between the two communities?

FK: Yeah, I think most of the Filipino men on the island probably came in the mid-'20s or right around that time. And I think most of them were either thought of as workers or, or kind of like unofficial foreman for pickers that came and would work for the Japanese farmers in that capacity. Although they were probably close, I don't think they really saw each other as, as partners or something. They just were probably thought of as higher employees as far as working for the farms.

JD: How about you and your, your brother and sisters? You get along with Felix and any other Filipino Americans?

FK: Well, I think they're just part of our life growing up. Because we had this little house on, near, on our property that was called the Filipino house and all the Filipino men lived there, and when they worked on the farm and stuff. And I know I would... I remember when I was a kid -- this was after the war -- it was, it was, I'd, I'd row the boat while Felix took his fishing net out there and would throw his net to catch shiners. And I'd be rowing the boat backwards and he'd be on the back of the boat throwing his net and, and I remember him taking me out to catch tako, octopus, and -- [laughs] -- my eyes getting really big watching those suckers suck on his boots. But, you know, I think it was, in Felix's case with our family, it was really a close situation. 'Cause I know after my father passed away, Felix would always kind of stop in and make sure my mom was okay and all that. And he was, he was probably thought of more as a friend than, you know, somebody... I mean, he wasn't working for us anymore, but he'd always stop by and make sure everything was okay and would help my mother if she needed something plowed or something. And it was when he already had his own farm or was already working for the shipyard or whatever, so... so I know it was a close relationship. And even during the war they did come to visit us in concentration camp, which would be highly unusual for somebody not to do... to do something like that if, unless they were really close. 'Cause that photograph we have of, of Felix and our family was taken in, I think, Pocatello. So he had to come to Idaho to be in that picture with us.

JD: It sounds as if that might have been kind of an unusual situation for a Filipino American who was originally sort of hired labor to become such a close friend of the family. Do you have any idea why that happened particularly?

FK: I think he's just been with us, with the family for such a long time. He was just kind of thought of as family. I know in his later years, in my mother's later years, they would be... I'd come to the house and they'd be playing Chinese checkers. [Laughs] And, and I remember once my sister coming over to the house and not being able to find them. And was looking all over for them and looked up on the roof and there were these two eighty-year-olds sitting on top of the roof trying to decide what to do with a hole in the roof. And she said, "My God, if they had fallen off that ladder, who would have taken care of them?" [Laughs] So, they just had this special relationship, and, just, just, I think they were like brothers and sisters actually, 'cause they looked after each other.

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