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JS: Now, your father and two other men, I understand, formed a company called NKS?

ES: Yes.

JS: And this was in 1902, I believe, is that correct?

ES: Yes.

JS: And what did NKS stand for, and how did your father became acquainted with these other two men to form this company?

ES: Well, they're from the same prefecture.

JS: Wakayama.

ES: And, and the N stands for Nakamura, and one of the ancestors of Nakamura still living. And Kino is another partner who had made a few dollars and went back to Japan. S, as you know, is Sakauye. [Laughs] So that was NKS. They were known as, not by name, but NKS, so it was easy to, to say. So the produce houses, they all called NK, NK.

JS: Why did they form a partnership?

ES: Well, pooled their money, in the first place, and pooled their assets together, and they're able to get any necessary equipment by pooling themselves together.

JS: Now, were they still lease, leasing land at that time?

ES: Yes, they were still leasing land.

JS: But they still formed this company anyway?

ES: Right.

JS: Now, it seems like, was the NKS one of the first Japanese agricultural companies formed in the valley, or were there others?

ES: Well, I think there were other farmers in the valley. Like I said before, they're on somebody's farm, sharecropping like that. But far as I know, far as I, folks told me, there was any type of organization that few of 'em got together and farmed together.

JS: What type of crops did they grow?

ES: Chiefly berries, but berries in the wintertime is dormant. So they grew a lot of Oriental vegetables and, of course, American vegetables alongside it.

JS: Did they have any -- I'm sorry.

ES: 'Cause I know we had a lot of old packing crates that shipped to San Francisco, Oakland, to Chinatown, so they grew Chinese vegetables.

JS: Oh. Did they have anybody working for them?

ES: Well, the people that worked for them are the immigrants keep coming from Japan, and first thing when they come to San Jose, they stayed at the boarding house in San Jose, and soon as they come to the boarding house, they always look for a job, because they're plenty hungry. And first thing that they'd take any job that they can get. My dad come to Japantown here, and there's a boarding house by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Kimura operated. And they'd come there, and look for jobs. So we'd hire 'em, and they're good workers, but on the weekend, they want to come to Japantown and see, meet other people that are immigrating to the United States. So on the weekend, it was very hard to have anybody steady like that. [Laughs] He always complained.

JS: How long did you hire them for? I mean, just for harvesting or for planting or everything like that?

ES: Well, see, people keep coming and coming, so whether we hired same person over and over again, that's another story. But there were abundance of labor, because they weren't able to go into other trade or anything, and they were just like other ethnic group first come to the United States: work for somebody and make a few dollars, then they would go on their own.

JS: Okay. But I guess what I'm asking is, when you went to actually hire them, do you say, "Well, this is just for today only," or is that how it worked out?

ES: Well, I don't know if it really was just for two days only, because I never asked my dad the question because he said he always come to Japantown and come to the boarding house where he could get his help.

JS: Okay. How successful was NKS?

ES: Well, it was, I would say, for early settlers to come and start, so I think it was quite successful, because the merchants here, wholesale merchants really depended on the growers.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2005 Densho and The Japanese American Museum of San Jose. All Rights Reserved.