<Begin Segment 2>

[This transcript has been extensively edited by the narrator.]

SY: Let's back up a little, because your grandfather ended up in Martinez.

GN: (After five years) my grandfather called the family (and) had saved enough money for passage for my grandmother Matsuno, age 35, my father Kiyoshi, 7 yrs. 10 mos.), and his younger sister Shige, (age 4). (Narr. note: They were admitted to the USA in Seattle, Washington, January 9, 1909.)

SY: So your father's siblings, that was the family in total, then.

GN: At that time. There were two sisters, (an older brother Masamoto), and then there's one brother that had come with the father, Tomitaka, (sister Kimiye), and the next would be my father, Kiyoshi, and then his younger sister Shige, (five children). (Narr. note: In 1912 my father's older brother Masamoto, 17 yrs., and older sister Kimiye, 15 yrs., to the USA from Tottori, Japan, and arrived in San Francisco to join the family. Brother Masamoto went to Napa College in Idaho to study for the ministry.)

SY: And your father was how old when he came?

GN: My father was (seven years, ten months. He probably went to elementary grades through eighth grade in Oakland and entered Martinez High School when they moved there). He has a diploma from Martinez High School.

SY: Do you know if there was, a Japanese American community that had already formed there?

GN: (Probably not in Martinez, but there perhaps was in East Oakland and San Jose for the shoyu factory). My grandfather was an adventurer. On both sides of the family, they are adventurers. There was a well-established big Shinoda clan in Tottori, and some of the stories that you hear when our relatives have gone to Tottori to visit (are fascinating). They said (that) people say, "You must know about the Shinoda Tunnel," and everyone goes to see the tunnel. There was this huge mountain in the middle of the town, and it was a day's journey to go from one side of the mountain to the other, because they had to go (over a treacherous pass over the mountain) all the way (another hazardous road) around the mountain. So the Shinoda family said, "Let's build a tunnel through the mountain," and people said, "That's impossible, all that rock and everything." Well, there was one Shinoda on one side (and another) Shinoda on the other side and they engineered it. They put the tunnel through, the Shinoda Tunnel. And my grandfather had a cousin, Masaburo (Shinoda). He later came to America (from Tottori before my Grandfather Kmuaichiro). At the Japanese American National Museum, you'll see all their names because their families have given to build the Japanese American National Museum. (Narr. note: It was the efforts of Masaburo's grandfather, father, and all of the villagers that the tunnel was completed in one year in 1890.)

SY: So is that tunnel there today?

GN: Oh, the tunnel is there today. I have cousins that have gone there to see the tunnel. (Narr. note: Masaburo Shinoda had immigrated to the USA and founded a prosperous nursery in East Oakland and San Leandro, California. The residents of Tottori asked the Japanese government to enlarge the tunnel. The government said they would need to provide matching funds. They were not able to raise the funds. When Masaburo heard about it, he sent 2 million yen to modernize the tunnel.)

SY: And it's big enough for cars to go through?

GN: Oh, yes, it's big enough for cars to go through.

SY: So it's obviously had work done on it since.

GN: Probably. I don't know how they got through before. My grandfather married my grandmother Shinoda and her name was Masuno (Nakashima). Anyway, she used to tell the story that when she was married to my grandfather, they carried her on a palanquin, and she rode like a princess around (the village). I never asked my grandmother, but there must have been litter-bearers, and they carried the dowry all through the town -- [interruption] -- for people to see. I guess she had some wealth in the family. They may have helped finance their trip to America, I don't know. At that time I wasn't into that kind of finance, so I never asked them. We'd always say, "Oh, Grandma, you were like a princess." [Laughs] My grandmother had a very smiling face. My grandfather and grandmother had very happy dispositions, both of them. I always remember my grandfather and my grandmother with smiles on their faces.

SY: So they really gave up a lot to come to the United States, then.

GN: They gave up a great deal on both sides of my family to come, and they came primarily for religious freedom, just like the pilgrims.

SY: And so when he came to Martinez, do you know that he continued practicing being a Christian? (Narr. note: Martinez was after East Oakland.)

GN: Oh, yes. I have pictures I want to show you later (of the two Christian churches my grandfather built which are still flourishing today). Later on they found out that that land was not suitable for growing flowers. They did sell the apples, it was an orchard, and he hated to destroy an orchard. What he had to buy was greenhouses. And I don't know what background he had in agriculture except that he did grow hops. And I don't know that hops need a sheltered environment like a greenhouse. (He did the floral nursery business and also in) San Jose, got back into the shoyu business because there was quite a number of Japanese in the Bay Area. So he was making the shoyu. (Narr. note: I have a photo of my grandfather in a derby hat and suit standing in front of his store and sign: Shoyu Factory. Since the taping of this interview, I have confirmed information that my grandfather Kumaichiro and his son Tomitaka came from Hawaii to East Oakland where his cousin Masaburo Shinoda had his nursery. They got land nearby and also grew flowers.)

SY: So he was, at this time, though, he must have been leasing the land to do all this farming.

GN: I imagine he was, because there wasn't anyone that was a citizen at that point to own the land, so he might have rented or leased the land. Who knows, he might have rented it from John Muir, I don't know. [Laughs] I never thought about it until right now.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.