<Begin Segment 14>

AM: Okay, now let's talk about your years of apprenticeship. You said it's usually a year-and-a-half, but it ends up being longer. You were kind of --

JS: Yeah, well, apprenticeship is very hard. I mean, for barbers, you, you really, you don't learn anything in school. And there was a time when I was apprenticing, and a farmer brought in three of his migrant workers, and that's all I... he told me in Spanish, "poquito," which means "little bit." I thought it meant "lot," so I gave him a butch haircut, and he started, tears came to his eyes. [Laughs]

AM: [Laughs] That was a surprise, huh?

JS: That was when I learned a little Spanish. [Laughs]

AM: Oh, that's a great story. And in 1951 you started with Clark Takeda?

JS: Yes, I started with Clark Takeda, uh-huh.

AM: And what, what kind of work, how long did that last with Clark?

JS: I was there for three years, uh-huh.

AM: And how was apprenticeship different from when you opened your barbershop, your own shop?

JS: Well, apprenticeship is tough because you don't have your customers at that time. You know, because they know you're, you're new. And you'd rather sit in an old-timer's chair than a new-timer's chair. That's how it goes.

AM: And as far as how much money you earned as an apprentice?

JS: You don't earn too much money in apprenticeship 'til you get your trade, your customers built up. Then it got to be pretty easy.

AM: And when did you start your own shop, then?

JS: Well, that was something I, I had a wreck in 1953, and I couldn't work, then I was out of job. Then Mr. Kohei Kogura from Kogura company, he told me, "Jimmy, I'll open up your barbershop for you." He was building a new building, and he put in, he told the carpenters, "Put a shop in there." So they put a wall in there, and he gave me a barbershop with forty-five dollars a month rent. He paid all my utilities, and that's how he started me off in business. He was real, real great for me.

AM: How did you get to know him?

JS: Well, you know, right there in town, he was only a block away from the barbershop so... but he was very, very good to me. Very good.

AM: Did he have other businesses? You said he was --

JS: No, he had the appliance store and his regular gift shop.

AM: And so your shop ended up being behind the...

JS: Well, my shop was right next to his appliance, see, he made an appliance store there, so it was kind of a, it was just a last-minute for him to build.

AM: Well, it sounds like he really wanted to help you out there.

JS: Yeah, he, he really wanted to help me out, and it was very, very nice.

AM: And that was probably, is that the reason you ended up having your shop in Japantown?

JS: Yeah, I stayed there and I had, well, I had my trade from before, so it kind of helped.

AM: So the clients that you --

JS: The clients I had before, so they were real loyal.

AM: And was there anyone else that helped you, either Japanese American or non-Japanese American?

JS: Well, the people that I think helped me out the most was in Denver. The Hashimoto family that took me in, under their wings when I was nineteen, and kept me, kept me on the straight and narrow, you know. Because at that time, there was a lot of kids out of camp running around. And they watched over me pretty nice.

AM: So kind of included you in their family in a way?

JS: Yeah, they had a restaurant there, uh-huh.

AM: Oh, so that was great.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.