<Begin Segment 12>

DG: And while you were doing that, your parents were still farming?

HS: Farming.

DG: And they continued to farm, can you describe what they were... in West Sacramento?

HS: Well, in West Sacramento, and then they moved back to Clarksburg. They bought about twenty acres in Clarksburg.

DG: And what did they farm there?

HS: They started out farming tomatoes. It was, when they first started, it was virgin soil. Tomato wasn't grown there ever before, and so the first year it was a beautiful crop. When you drove along the road, the whole field was yellow with blossoms.

DG: Twenty acres. So, but tomato you can't keep growing, right? In the same...

HS: You have to alternate, uh-huh. So they also grew sugar beets.

DG: I see.

HS: And my brother, one year my brother got an award from the sugar beet factory for growing the best sugar beets.

DG: So he stayed with your parents.

HS: Yes.

DG: And continued to farm that acreage. Where in Clarksburg was that? What road?

HS: The River Road. South River Road.

DG: Is it where you are now?

HS: Yes.

DG: And is the acreage still farmed?

HS: It's in grapes now. The whole area is almost all in grapes.

DG: Right. Is your brother still living?

HS: Yes.

DG: Does he live with you?

HS: No, he lives about, about a mile away. He lives in the town of Clarksburg, on South School Street.

DG: So as your parents farmed that twenty acres, were they able to get ahead? You were saying before the war they were trying to get ahead, and then everything gets taken away from them. When they came back and they were farming that farm --

HS: Well, you know, they were very frugal. They didn't spend anything, no luxuries at all.

DG: But they were making some money. So they had a little more security?

HS: I guess they were making some money. I'm not sure. [Laughs] I know we were very frugal. We didn't spend a dime on anything that we didn't need.

DG: Did your brother have a family? Did he marry?

HS: He's married now, yes. He went to Japan to be married. It was an arranged marriage, so he went to Japan to get married, then they both came back.

DG: And when was that?

HS: It must've been about 1960s, thereabouts.

DG: Was that unusual at that time?

HS: No, I don't think so. The relatives, my mother's relatives in Japan, had arranged the marriage.

DG: And so then she moved back with him.

HS: Uh-huh.

DG: Is she still living?

HS: Yes.

DG: Did you and she become close?

HS: Well, she's my sister-in-law. [Laughs]

DG: [Laughs] Well, that can mean --

HS: But she's, but she speaks Japanese, a little English -- she picked up a lot of English -- and then I speak English, very little Japanese. So she has her circle of friends, I have my circle of friends. She's a very good cook, a very good artist. In fact, everything she does is real good, perfect. She's, I don't know if you know her or not, Ikuko Sakazaki?

JS: I think I met her. So she was one of --

HS: Very talented.

JS: She was the one, I saw her name with the Holland Doshi Kai record. So she's part of the club.

HS: Yes.

JS: She was part of the club. When did she marry your brother, about what year?

HS: Did I say 1950?

DG: You said '60.

HS: '60.

JS: '60s.

HS: I guess 1960.

DG: So did you participate in the Holland Doshi Kai?

HS: No.

DG: But your brother --

HS: All I went was to the parties, but I didn't help much. Occasionally we had to clean the place; that's when I went, participate, help scrub the floors. Took me a whole day just to scrub the bathroom. [Laughs]

DG: So, but your brother and sister-in-law were active?

HS: Yes.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.