<Begin Segment 9>

MN: Can you tell me what your parents' schedule, like work schedule was like? Did they have to work seven days a week?

KM: Oh, I'd say my mother was, used to work about seven days a week. My dad used to take Saturdays, I mean, Sundays off, but he used to work Saturdays here. I used to have to help him a little bit on Saturdays sometimes, yeah.

MN: And then you said he had an assistant?

KM: Huh?

MN: Your father had an assistant?

KM: Yeah. He used to do a lot of the, most of the heavy work. My dad was... he was pretty sharp and he hired somebody to do the heavy work, though. [Laughs] 'Cause I remember he used to not take his lunch like other gardeners that take their lunch. He used to come home, and during the time that he came home for lunch, he'd take a nap, maybe half an hour or so and then go back. But he'd have the worker do the, working on where he was doing. So he knew how to take it easy. [Laughs]

MN: Was your father on the older side, is that why he had to...

KM: No, no. He was the second son of a big family, so he knew he, I guess the, usually the Japanese custom, the first son gets everything, and the second son and the rest of 'em were all out the front door. When they get of age, well, they're on their own. So that's why I guess he sort of immigrated to the United States.

MN: Well, you mentioned your dad came home for lunch. Does that mean all his customers were close by?

KM: Oh, yeah. I mean, they were all in Glendale. I don't think he ever went outside. I don't recall him going outside of Glendale.

MN: Now, your parents, your father or your mother, did they drink?

KM: Huh?

MN: Did they drink? Did your parents drink?

KM: Oh, he had, I never saw him drunk, but he did drink sake, that's right. He was a lover of tea. I remember every night he used to, before he'd go to sleep, he'd have a couple glasses of tea, green tea. So I used to join him, and so I have that habit of drinking a lot of tea at night.

MN: That doesn't affect your sleep?

KM: Huh? It doesn't affect my sleep. But now, at my age, I have to get up every couple hours at night. [Laughs]

MN: How about smoking? Did your father or mother smoke?

KM: Yeah, he smoked a little bit, but he wasn't... yeah, he smoked. Yeah, he smoked. But I think he was an off and on type of smoker. I remember he used to have his Bull Durham and roll his own cigarette and take a couple puffs and that was it. He wasn't a very good roller of it.

MN: Did he have you help him roll the cigarette when you were a child?

KM: No, I don't recall him having a machine or anything like that to roll his cigarettes, so he can have a nice-looking cigarette where he can make maybe five or six puffs, maybe ten puffs a cigarette. But most of his puffs were a couple puffs and that was it because it would fall apart.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.