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DG: So Heidi, we start with asking people to say their full name.

HS: I'm Heidi Hideko Sakazaki.

DG: And where and when were you born?

HS: March 28th, '28, in Clarksburg.

DG: At home?

HS: At home.

DG: Do you know, was there a midwife who...

HS: I'm sure there was a midwife.

DG: And your parents, can you tell us about them and when they came from Japan?

HS: My mother was about sixteen when she came from Japan, and they first started working on the farms, up and down the state.

DG: So they traveled. They were migrant...

HS: Migrants, uh-huh.

DG: And did she come with your father?

HS: My father came first with his grandfather, then he went back to get married to my mother and they came back.

DG: What part of Japan were they from?

HS: Hiroshima.

DG: So she was very young.

HS: Sixteen.

DG: And how old was he?

HS: I think there's about fourteen years' age difference.

DG: And what were their names?

HS: My mother was a Nishimura, -mori, and of course, my father's Sakazaki, Kurato.

DG: What was his first name?

HS: Kurato.

DG: And did they have other children besides you?

HS: Well, my sister and my brother. And one passed away, so there were four and one passed away.

DG: Are you the oldest?

HS: No, I'm the youngest.

DG: So can you tell me the names of your sisters and brothers?

HS: My sister, the oldest, is Tetsuko Sakazaki -- no, Hamasaki. My brother is Shoya Sakazaki.

DG: And if you were born in 1928, they were born in...

HS: My brother 1927, and my sister 1925.

DG: And the other child, the one that --

HS: She was the first one, probably a couple of years before my sister.

DG: So if your parents started out migrant, as migrant farmworkers, that was before you were born, before the children?

HS: Yes.

DG: And when did they settle in this area?

HS: Hard to say.

DG: But before they had children.

HS: Yes, before they had children.

DG: And did they lease land to farm?

HS: Well, you know the Isseis were prohibited from owning land, and so they used a person's name who was a citizen.

DG: So they purchased land in the name of one of your --

HS: Whoever was a citizen, they just borrowed their name. I think a lot of Isseis did that.

DG: So your parents bought land.

HS: Not until after the war.

DG: So they leased before the war.

HS: Under another person's name. You probably are familiar, aware that the Japanese were not allowed to earn, own land.

DG: Yes, and I knew that in some, that after 1920 there were some restrictions on leasing.

HS: I think about 1923 or so.

DG: But most of the people we've talked to in this area, it sounds like they have been able to lease the property from local landowners and didn't need to go through an intermediary.

HS: They probably had, they put, they probably put it in the children's name, who were citizens.

DG: So your parents leased property around Clarksburg?

HS: Yes, around Clarksburg and West Sacramento.

DG: And do you know who the landowner was?

HS: No idea.

DG: And what were they farming?

HS: Before the war, they were farming tomatoes, then they went into seed crops, onion seed, carrot seed, lettuce seeds.

DG: So does that mean you're growing the crop for seed? Or they were --

HS: They were growing for Ferry Morse Seed Company.

DG: And so they had tomatoes for canning?

HS: Yes, but, but at first they started out with tomatoes, 'cause you, it's, you can't, unless you're a big farmer, you can't do both.

DG: So then they were able to lease more land and do both?

HS: No, they didn't, they didn't, before the war, they didn't have a large acreage. I would say about twenty or so.

DG: Small. And just one area.

HS: In one area.

DG: Where in relation to the city of Clarksburg, or the town of Clarksburg?

HS: It was, you know where the Clarksburg Bridge is? Right there.

DG: On the west side of --

HS: Yeah, on the west.

DG: Okay.

HS: East side's the river. [Laughs]

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.