<Begin Segment 5>

TI: So let's go back to your parents. I want you to describe, what was your father like in terms of personality? How would you describe him?

LW: Well, my father was kind of a quiet person that didn't say too much. He does his work and that was it. His social life wasn't too much. Only, I remember the only time is during the afternoon, he would go to the movie house to see a movie. American movie, but I think what he does is go there and take a nap or something like that. Because it's only about a block away from where (our) business was.

TI: Same question about your mother. What was your mother like?

LW: Mother's same thing. Whole family, she didn't involve too much, all concentrate on business, cooking, and that was her life. No social life at all, and we were open 365 days of the year, they never took a vacation, work, work, work. So they really had a hard time, yeah. But it's amazing how they could raise the five kids like that with a small income. But somehow they managed. But one thing about that, we never got in trouble.

TI: When you say you didn't get in trouble, I mean, compared to the other kids in the neighborhood, did other kids get in more trouble than...

LW: No, no.

TI: So it was pretty much, it was common that people were...

LW: Yeah, Japanese community, it's kind of a... if you get in trouble, everybody in town knows, and they really respect the elderly people. Yeah, the kids were pretty good.

TI: So I want to get a sense now, so for your family, because yesterday I saw the town and how close all the buildings were. Were there certain families that your family was really close with?

LW: No, (not that) I know. They all know each other from business, and, you know, the kenjinkai, the group that you belong to. But socializing, they didn't do too much. It's mostly work, work, work for them.

TI: Was there ever another family that, if, for instance, there was maybe some kind of emergency, that they would go to for help? Like if someone was sick or something...

LW: No, we didn't have no relative there in the United States, mostly all in Japan. So, oh, you could always ask your neighbor, next door, somebody there. Then with the doctor's office, it's only half a block away, and the dentist and everything, it's convenient, so you don't really need the transportation. But I don't know how they did it when I was born, you know, when you had to go to Sacramento to the hospital.

TI: Yeah, that's what I was wondering, so if they had to go to the hospital, who would watch the other, the other kids?

LW: [Coughs] Excuse me. Because somebody got to take you to the hospital. But I don't see how they did it because they had a doctor's office, but that was it.

TI: Yeah, like I'm thinking when, so when your younger sister was born, she was a little bit, quite a bit younger. So when that happened, your mother was really busy. Was there anyone that kind of came and helped out her?

LW: No. She was pregnant, but she managed somehow. Maybe once in a while someone come (to help).

<End Segment 5> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.