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TI: And do you know how many years your father was in Watsonville before your mother came to Japan -- or came from Japan to Watsonville? I'm thinking that Fumio was born in 1924, so I'm wondering if your mother came, like, right before then, about that time?
EN: She came, they got married in 1923.
TI: Okay, yeah. So that's --
EN: So they came...
TI: So that's probably about what, she came right then, 1923. And he came about 1917, so it sounds like he was in Watsonville maybe four or five years before they... and during those five years in Watsonville, you mentioned the agriculture, the farming, stuff like that. So is that pretty much what he did during those five years?
EN: Uh-huh.
TI: And you mentioned the ranch. When did you guys move to the ranch?
EN: That was in about 1938, I think. But next door was the ranch that they were farming on before he bought this ranch in 1938, that Redman House.
TI: And so your father, it sounds like he must have been a pretty good farmer.
EN: He worked hard, huh?
YN: Yeah. I can still remember he was plowing with horses. We used to have horses, do you remember that?
EN: Yeah.
YN: And I was so scared at night because he'd find the horse ran away from jumping over the water trough, and he'd go look for it with a flashlight. It used to scare me at night when I'd hear him doing that.
TI: Because you were worried that he might get hurt or something?
YN: Yes. Because our grandfather got kicked by a horse when our grandfather was here. I don't know what year that was, do you?
EN: No, I don't know what year.
TI: So your, your dad had established as a farmer, and your grandfather, his father, came to the United States to also work?
YN: But we don't know too much about it. We just heard that story.
EN: Just that uncle, huh? Yomoji's the uncle that came in 1930, I think.
TI: Oh, so in addition to your grandfather, your uncle, your father's brother, also came. And so tell me a little bit about him. What was his name?
EN: Yomoji.
TI: And was he a younger brother?
EN: Uh-huh.
TI: And what kind of things did he do to help the family?
EN: Well, he helped, all taking care of the kids, too, besides at the ranch. I think he took care of us more than Father did. [Laughs] The father was too tired.
YN: I don't remember him too much.
EN: He used to give a bath to everybody, all the kids.
YN: Did he?
EN: Yeah.
YN: I'm learning something today. [Laughs]
TI: So was he kind of a fun uncle? Was he kind of more around, had more energy than your dad because your dad worked so hard?
EN: Uh-huh. And he had another brother, but he died of a tragic accident. He fell in a ditch with a tractor, and the disk all together, and he got crushed. (His name was Takeso.)
TI: Was this in Watsonville?
EN: Uh-huh. I don't know what year that was. That was before the war, I think.
YN: Yeah. Kaoru was six years old.
TI: So what type of farming did your father get good at? What was his, sort of, specialty?
EN: Lettuce.
<End Segment 6> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.