Densho Digital Archive - Shoichi Kobara Interview (denshovh-kshoichi-01-0003)

<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So let's, let's go back to the point when he came to the United States. And so about how old was he, and you said he went to go work for the railroads.

SK: He came here when he was nineteen years old. 1898, I think. And he worked in Watsonville, I guess they had labor. In those days, there was a labor contractor that found work for everybody, and he was saying in 1905, he was working in Castroville, in the field. That's when Japan defeated the Russian, Baltic fleet, so that's, he said after that, the military got, "See, we could do anything now." So they got powerful, more powerful in Japan. But he believed in the United States all the time. That's always his, he said, "This is the only country in the world that's made up of all kinds of people." You go any other country, even if you go back to Japan from here, they discriminate against. That's why a lot of Kibeis were, they had hard feelings, huh? Japanese that were born here and went back to Japan. They don't, they didn't accept you hundred percent.

TI: I want to go back to when your dad talked about when the Japanese defeated the Russians. And he would sort of tell you, as a child, the story about that. How did he, how did he feel about that? Was he proud that this small country could defeat Russia?

SK: Yeah, that's what he was saying. That's why more military people got more powerful, and then they start talking about yamato damashi and all that stuff.

TI: But how did your father feel about that? Was he all for that? Did he think that was the way for Japan to go in terms of becoming a stronger...

SK: Well, he said, in a way, to get more respect and everything. But he said, "You can't fight the United States, it's too big." It's impossible.

TI: Okay. So let's pick it back up, so around 1905 or so, he's still in Watsonville. And then what happens?

SK: He got married to a, in Watsonville. He didn't talk too much about her. He was from Higashi family, he was a labor contractor. Then I guess the father-in-law or something found out they were recruiting railroad workers, so he decided to go to Nebraska. And then he worked there and then he got promoted to what they call section foreman, to run a crew of Japanese, Indians, black, Mexicans, all on the crew. And he said after he started working, they fix the railroad tracks, and he'd run the crew.

TI: This is your father you're talking about.

SK: Yeah. And he, somehow I guess he learned English enough to do that, 'cause he told me all kinds of story about living in Colorado, Nebraska, about hunting and fishing and all that. 'Cause he used to know the game warden, tell him where to go to hunt.

TI: Well, it was, perhaps unusual, too, to have a wife. So he was married. Did his wife go with him because he was section foreman?

SK: Yeah.

TI: And so she was with him in Nebraska and all these different places.

SK: That's why after, I forgot how many years, he told me he came back to Watsonville in 1917 because she was getting so lonely, she kept, you know, finally he gave in and came back to Watsonville. When he retired from there, Union Pacific, he thought maybe he can get a job over here. But I've talked to a lot of Irish people and they said it was controlled by Irish over here, railroad, and nobody else, even Irish that came from different section of Ireland, couldn't get in.

TI: Now, do you know if your father ever had any children with his first wife?

SK: No. That's what one of his, I guess, what do you call, he was always saying. Because if he had any children, they would become American citizens, so they could lease property and stuff. 'Cause in 1925, they had the alien land law passed. He farmed before that, but after that, he couldn't.

TI: Oh. So he was thinking if he did have children with his first wife, then they could have become U.S. citizens and then he would have been able to own land.

SK: Anyway, when he came back, that was around, almost the end of World War I, and the flu epidemic, a lot of people died, and she died, too. After she came back to Watsonville, she died.

TI: So is your father's first wife, is she buried in...

SK: Yes, in Pioneer Cemetery.

TI: Okay. So in 1917, she dies during the flu epidemic, and then you were saying that this was also during World War I.

SK: Yeah, toward the end, yeah.

TI: And then what happened?

SK: Well, I forgot what year, they leased some property on Beach Road and farmed and made some money, so he decided he wanted to go back to Japan and get married.

TI: Okay, but before that, I guess, and I should have asked, so during, at the tail end of World War I, after his wife died, he tried to volunteer for the U.S. Army?

SK: He enlisted, yeah. Tried to enlist.

TI: Can you explain that? Why did he want to do that?

SK: Because other, a friend of his, they did, and then they were saying they could get American citizen once you get in the army. So he thought that was one way he could get American citizenship.