Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Kay Endo Interview
Narrator: Kay Endo
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Portland, Oregon
Date: July 24, 2010
Densho ID: denshovh-ekay-01-0004

<Begin Segment 4>

RP: Do you remember how many Japanese American families there were in that area?

KE: In Milwaukie it's easier if I name 'em. There was the Watanabe, two Yoshitomi families, Yoshizawas, Takamoto, Terasaki, Fujitas, there was two Sasaki families, and Takahashi and one more, can't remember her last name, single lady. Oh, Hirofuji.

RP: You passed.

KE: Pardon?

RP: You passed.

KE: Yeah, and they were right in that area within probably half mile.

RP: All of them within a half mile?

KE: Yeah, well, the bottom land they were all farmers.

RP: Did your father originally lease land and then put it in an owner's name?

KE: Yeah, we were never able to purchase land, we just all rent.

RP: Massie told us some stories about the Watanabe was kind of the place where people liked to gather.

KE: Right.

RP: For picnics or... do you remember the Watanabe family and meeting?

KE: Oh, yes, and they also on their property a Japanese school which I was not able to attend. [Laughs]

RP: So did you play with the kids?

KE: I can't remember that specifically.

RP: So do you remember any other social contact that you had with Japanese families there?

KE: Well, since I didn't go to the Japanese school but we always knew each other, all the families. And then the Watanabe always had a firework show on the Fourth of July and that was kind of a community event. And then we also made mochi, the hard way.

RP: What's the hard way?

KE: With the big bowl, I mean, the big permanent bowl and then with the mallets and then you pounded it.

RP: So were you too young to be part of that?

KE: No, you know, we all tried to do our best but we ended up playing catch or football or something like that. Or putting, you know, when you make mochi you use cornstarch so it doesn't stick and used to see how much cornstarch we'd get on our peers, especially the girls. [Laughs]

RP: How did that taste when it was all done and made?

KE: You know, they made a lot of mochi, they probably made about three, four hundred pounds in one day.

RP: So it wasn't just strictly for New Year's then was it?

KE: Well, in those days it was because you couldn't preserve it. There was no such thing as refrigeration.

RP: Refrigeration.

KE: You could put it in water, try to preserve it but it's mainly, mochi is, in the old days it was traditionally for New Year's and then in the spring they had a green one that uses, there's a pyrethrum leaf and they extracted the green out of that.

RP: They have green mochi?

KE: Yeah, that's how they got the green mochi. Either you got it from tea or from the mums, the pyrethrum.

RP: So you had to eat a lot of mochi?

KE: Oh, yeah, see how fat I am? [Laughs]

RP: Four hundred pounds, boy, wow.

KE: Oh and then of course their friends from Portland lot of cases come in and help too. So it was really a big deal.

RP: Yeah, big festive occasion.

KE: Right.

RP: Do you remember going in as a kid before the war started, going into Portland on trips occasionally?

KE: No, I do not.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.