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MA: What was your mother's name?

EY: Nakamoto. Well, she's a Nakamoto.

MA: Nakamoto?

EY: Towa Nakamoto.

MA: And was she also from Hiroshima-ken?

EY: Yes.

MA: And did they meet through arranged...

EY: Oh, they were, pretty close neighbor. And the parents picked. They were neighbors, and he was a bachelor, he came to America and then went back and got married.

MA: And after he, he married your mother, did they come right to Fresno?

EY: Yes, that's about it.

MA: So they settled in Fresno.

EY: Uh-huh.

MA: And what type of work were they doing in Fresno?

EY: Well, farming. And then moved up to San Juan Bautista where I grew up most of the twelve years before I moved into Watsonville.

MA: I see, so you were born in Fresno but then moved to San Juan Bautista when you were very young.

EY: Uh-huh, my father's uncle was there in San Juan Bautista.

MA: And did they continue farming in San Juan Bautista?

EY: Oh, yes. Went along, and then he raised, seed farm, Fairmore Seed Company, 'til the Depression. And when the Depression came, lot of seed company sort of closed door, so whoever was raising seeds, because that climate is just right for the seeds. And they were closed up, so we all went to, it was Depression time, so we all had to find some kind of living. And we moved in, we found out that Watsonville had lot of, needed a lot of berry growers, and that's more or less family way to, for the survival of the Depression. And we came up here in 1928.

MA: So you came to Watsonville in 1928.

EY: Uh-huh.

MA: So it sounds like the Depression...

EY: Sort of changed everything.

MA: Yeah.

EY: The Fairmore Seed Company couldn't sell any seeds for a while, so then they, so they closed up. There was four families raising seed for, at San Juan Bautista.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.