<Begin Segment 21>

AM: And now we're going to talk a little bit about Japantown. There were some businesses like yours that started right after the war, and then they didn't make it. They're not, they didn't last very long. Do you have any ideas why that was the case?

JS: No. Well, most of 'em did well.

AM: For a while.

JS: Yeah, and well, a lot of real old-timers there, but most of your businesses after I started was restaurant, Japanese people came in from Japan and opened up restaurants. And now we have lot, lot of restaurant from Japantown.

AM: Not too much else, huh?

JS: No, no barbershops, but that's how it turned out, because the Sanseis don't have to come to Japantown any more. They, to get haircuts, or they just come to eat, and that's about it.

AM: Yeah. They can get other services in other places in the valley.

JS: No, no, that's why Japantown is just restaurants, and a couple of the old-timers left.

AM: And what would you, what have been the greatest rewards of having a business in Japantown?

JS: Well, the people. You meet a lot of good people, and I like my work; I enjoyed it.

AM: And you said you had really great, loyal customers.

JS: Yeah, I had good customers all the way through, uh-huh.

AM: And on the other side of the question, what have been the greatest difficulties of having a business in Japantown?

JS: The wages. You're always less than your competitors on the outside.

AM: And now, looking back, knowing what you do now, would you choose to run the same kind of business in Japantown, or would you do something different?

JS: I think I would go out of Japantown to do some other kind of work.

AM: Do you have any thoughts about what kind of work that might have been?

JS: Anything that pays your retirement. [Laughs]

AM: Certain other things become important, then, doesn't it?

JS: Other things, yeah, uh-huh.

AM: And then what do you think the future holds for Japantown businesses?

JS: Well, there's not much doing anymore in Japantown, that's the thing. That's all we have now is people come for the restaurants, but then their outlying areas, they have a lot of Japanese restaurants coming up, too. So it's going to be tough, I think. And then every other, like these gift stores, they're opening up all over. So it's gonna be tough to stay in Japantown, I think it is.

AM: Yes. Okay, those are my questions for you, is there anything else you'd like to tell us about your life or your business that I didn't have, that I didn't ask you about?

JS: Not really, it was kind of not interesting life, but it's a living.

AM: It sounded like it was a very full life.

JS: Yeah.

AM: With all your friends.

JS: It was, it was a lot of fun.

AM: Okay, well, thank you, Mr. Sakamoto, for helping the museum pursue its mission to collect and preserve Japanese American history in the Santa Clara Valley. Your contributions will, contribution will help future generations to understand and appreciate the role of Japanese Americans in California's history. So thank you again.

JS: Thank you.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.