Densho Digital Archive - Emi Yamamoto Interview (denshovh-yemi-01-0007)

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MA: So what religion did your family practice?

EY: Buddhist.

MA: And did you attend Sunday school?

EY: Yes, if we could, my parents used to bring us to church. We have Sunday school.

MA: And the church right in town here?

EY: Yes, Watsonville, yes.

MA: How far away did you live from town during that time? How long would it take to get into town?

EY: About twenty minutes, I guess. See, our home was close to the beach there. And in fact, our first strawberry field was right on the, next to the cliff, the beach at La Selva. And...

MA: And how often would you come into town?

EY: Well, like how they used to go get a grocery and things like that, so once a week, or not much. He wasn't much of a driver. [Laughs] That's why the foreman where we started sharecropping, well, Mr. Takasugi, he was the foreman. And he taught me how to drive a gearshift car. My father only drove Model T.

MA: Right. [Laughs] So what holidays and festivals did you celebrate with your family?

EY: New Year's, like the Japanese do in old time.

MA: And what would you do for your New Year's celebration?

EY: Oh, they made the regular sushi and the whole thing. And we made some mochi. [Laughs] They followed the traditions, Japanese tradition. And we still do, with this new machine, we make mochi. And until my mother-in-law passed away, she enjoyed, my husband got the machine. When we first got that pounder, and she used to love every New Year's that we make omochi. And I used to take the order for every family, and I washed all the rice, so when they come, everything's ready to make mochi. My husband got the, you know, the Japanese pounder, and after the machine came out, we bought that and helped, that thing helped. But it wasn't, Grandma just loved that old-time...

MA: Traditional way.

EY: So I used to, we used to buy a sack of mochi rice, and then I used to, they want so many pound out of that, and I have to wash all that.

MA: That's a lot of work.

EY: Uh-huh. But it was, Grandma used to love her children's family gathered at my place, and they were original pioneer from Watsonville, so she loved to come up from the Bay Area and gather all her children. [Laughs] But it was quite a job for me, but I enjoyed, they enjoyed it.

MA: That's a, a great tradition.

EY: Yes. We kept up the tradition.

MA: So your mother and father emphasized traditional Japanese holidays and cultural traditions?

EY: Uh-huh, yes.

MA: And they spoke Japanese mainly in the home?

EY: Yes. That's why I had to learn to translate everything.

MA: Right, so you were helping your parents, right?

EY: Uh-huh.