<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Earlier you mentioned how your father was not really a farmer, didn't have that experience, and you mentioned that working that farm was a hard work.

LH: It was.

TI: How, how did he do as a farmer?

LH: Well, I guess he did alright, but you know what, he turned to drink. That was the one thing that my father and I never got along with because, and I remember it was claret wine and he'd buy it by the jug. And one time I was with him, coming back from somewhere, he hit the telephone pole. It just, thump. Nobody got hurt. I don't think there was too much damage, but after that, he knew I didn't like it, but I think he was just... I don't know, it's just his way of just forgetting, I guess. But looking back, I thought it was a challenge for him and it was his way out. And I know my mother used to tell him not to drink, but he did, and he drank even during the war and then when we were in Utah he had bleeding ulcers and I remember we had to rush him to the hospital and... I thought it was odd then, because I don't remember there being a hospital or, either that or Brigham City 'cause there wasn't a hospital in Tremonton or Garland. But anyway, he was there for about a week or so and then he quit drinking for a while, but I think after the war he used to have beer in the house, but he never indulged in it like he did before.

TI: Going back to when you were, when he started drinking when he was younger, when did he drink? Did he drink with others? Did he drink by himself? Was there were certain times when he would drink?

LH: He must've drank at home because he had the wine, but New Year's, New Year's was a big thing in those days. They celebrated for about a week and my mother cooked for about a week before and all during the week, and we lived in, I don't remember other New Year's, but I do remember in Burbank because from Wabash Road to our house is a little ways because you have to pass the school and then come to the house. It's all mud, and I remember people's cars getting stuck and my father bringing pieces of wood to get traction to get them out of the mud, but when they came, they're all Kumamoto people, people that knew each, are good friends, they all drank. I think they were known for drinking, the Kumamoto-ken people, and they didn't get violent, but they got happy and I remember they'd do the ondo around the table and my brother and I'd be just watching 'cause it's fascinating. It's different. My mother's in the back cooking and, but I do remember the dancing. You don't see them doing that anywhere else but on a New Year thing 'cause I don't even remember seeing them do that, the dancing even at the Kumamoto parties, and I still go to them every year because I was the one that brought my parents and my in-laws. My husband was the oldest and I was the oldest girl. My brother didn't do any of that, so I was the one that took them all over. That's why I miss them all, all these old Isseis.

TI: Interesting. Good story.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.