<Begin Segment 8>

KO: What were the businesses like in Japantown? Were they basically closed, or were they run by other nationalities?

RO: When we first came back? I think most of these were vacant. Dobashis' and Koguras'.

KO: Were they just closed down for the war?

RO: Well, Dobashi had that old market. The new market wasn't built 'til a lot later, the market they're in currently. That was built after, way after the war.

KO: Where was the first market?

RO: The first market is where the Sugaru restaurant is. That was the first Dobashi Market.

KO: And where is that?

RO: That's in the center of Jackson Street on the south side between Fifth and Sixth.

KO: Okay. And your nursery was...?

RO: When we came back, we had to start from scratch. We had to start from beginning.

KO: And your father worked as a gardener again?

RO: He was a gardener again, then we started the nursery.

KO: What was his clientele like when he came back? Were they Japanese or Caucasian?

RO: He pretty much worked for the same people he worked for before the war.

KO: They remembered him?

RO: Yeah, they, right here off of First Street on Losse Court, right behind the, used to be Sumitomo Bank.

KO: So life was kind of the same for your folks, but not for you.

RO: Yeah, uh-huh.

KO: Okay, so you were in junior high at this time, then, when you came back.

RO: Correct, (yes).

KO: And how soon did the other families start returning?

RO: About six months later, in June, a lot of people came back. There was not too much housing, so when the people came back, they were living in the Buddhist Church. They partitioned off the church and families were living in there. And adjacent to the Buddhist Church was a building, two-story wooden building, they call it a hostel. Used to have Japanese school on the top before the war, but people lived in that when they first came back from camp. Because most people had no place to go, so they lived in that hostel building.

KO: Did you help out some families when they came in?

RO: Yeah, we boarded some people in our house. Takeda, Grayson Takeda, his family, they lived with us for a while 'til they could open up their place on Jackson Street. Dr. Kimura lived with us for a while. He, Dr. Kimura never sent my dad a bill. My dad went to him for twenty years, and he never sent him a bill 'cause my dad helped him when he first came to San Jose.

KO: That's really nice, he was really grateful.

RO: (Yes).

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.