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KL: And you guys went home to different neighborhoods, too, then.

MT: Mine wasn't that much of a neighborhood because we lived on a busy boulevard, and our business was there, so that I didn't have hardly any Japanese friends other than a few gals that were my age and taking some of the same courses. I had interaction with them at school and during lunchtime, but I didn't have too much of a social life afterwards because I went home and I helped in the shop, and so I didn't, my social life was a little bit limited.

KL: Did your dad grow things in Japan, or is that something he wanted to...

MT: No, he didn't grow in, that I know of. So he was a very bright man, knew how to do, if it was carpentry or sawing wood or making a little lean-to for the flowers and all, he could do most anything. He was very good with hammer and nail, and he grew, he could, the vegetable garden that he had was just tremendous. So he had that to grow up with.

KL: At your home?

MT: Supplemented our... although the supermarket was just a block away, he raised our vegetables right on Wilshire Boulevard. And he just seemed to have a knack. And he also, during this time, rented acreage in San Pedro, and had acres and acres of gladiola bulbs, and raised them for the flower market, and was one of the top growers. So that his bundles of gladiolas were choice, and they all hollered out and said, "Save me six dozen, save me ten dozen," and he'd be sold out before the market even opened, because he was known for the top quality of his flowers. So he did have a knack for doing almost anything. And then my mother, he helped her open the flower shop, so we did, sold flowers to the public like a flower shop.

KL: Did she grow things, too?

MT: No, we went to the flower market to supplement flowers that she sold in the market.

KL: So she didn't raise plants?

MT: No, she didn't.

KL: Did your dad have a... my grandpa was a farmer, too, and he had this kind of deep connection to growing things. Did your dad have a philosophy? Did he like growing things?

MT: Oh, he loved growing things and picking, harvesting what he grew. He just seemed to know how to thin things out and get more from the garden.

KL: What do you think he liked about it?

MT: Well, I think the satisfaction of being able to sell, and he also took first, blue ribbon for the flowers that he grew for the biggest and beautiful at flower shows that they had in Los Angeles, the main (flower organization), we had competition. And he'd get first prize for growing the biggest dahlias and beautiful things.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.