<Begin Segment 16>

AI: In terms of your move to establish the store in San Jose, why did you choose Japantown to start a business rather than anywhere in San Jose? Why Japantown?

DT: Well, I think we had come once before, and we saw Japantown first time. And so we said, "Well, maybe this would be the best place, naturally. We started a shop in San Mateo, it was no good. That thing go, my brother was running it, but San Mateo was not the place.

AI: Was it because of the kind of product you were selling? Was it Japanese, ethnic --

DT: No, it was right close to downtown San Jose -- downtown San Mateo. We had no chance.

AI: When you established it in San Jose, what were you, what kinds of things were you selling?

DT: Oh, we were regular Nichibei Bussan, Arrow shirts, Levis. American goods. And then what happened? My brother was running the San Francisco store, and he said, "You know, people that come from back east, Japantown and San Francisco, they don't want Levis, they want Japanese goods." So we converted the store in Japanese goods, they sent all the American goods to us. In the meantime, over here, big shopping centers opened up. And so die a slow death. And we said, "Ah-hah. We have to change our whole tactics." And so we went into Japanese merchandise, we got rid of all our American merchandise, and that's how we survived. The department stores downtown, two of 'em, big ones, closed up. They couldn't beat the shopping store competition. But we had things that they didn't have, you see. Kimonos, happi coats, martial arts, that's what happened.

AI: Was there anyone else, Japanese American or non-Japanese American, who helped you starting up your business?

DT: Where, in --

AI: Here.

DT: Here?

AI: We're now in the San Jose part of your life.

DT: Not really. I think, as I said, we found that grocery store location, it was a gamble. We didn't know what the future was going to be, but we got in there and before we knew it we were to buy the place, and before we knew it, it expanded in '52, and in '58 we expanded again. We bought the lot behind us. So it just so happened that everything went very well, you see. But we didn't know it was gonna be that way.

AI: So did your family have to rely on any financial resources?

DT: Oh, well, naturally, you go to the banks to borrow money to do all the remodeling and the expansion. You can't do it on your own cash; you borrow. Sumitomo Bank or whatever bank, and then you're paying them, you know. Without the bank's help, you couldn't do it.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2004 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.