<Begin Segment 28>

KL: This is tape five, is that right? We're finishing up an interview today with Eiko Yamaichi. And where we left off, it was 1949, you and Jimi had just married. I wonder what you can tell us about just the rest of your lives. What's been important to you in the years since, how have you spent your time?

EY: Well, I worked in a school district, San Jose Unified School District, and I started out in the cafeteria. And then I changed schools and I washed pots and pans, and then I got promoted to be a cook at the high school level. Then I thought, you know what? This is not what I want to do all the time. So while I was going to work, I decided to take adult education and I went to Del Mar High School where they were teaching it. So after I finished school, working, I only worked six hours a day at that time. So after I finished school there, then I would take the car and we'd go over to Del Mar and start taking business classes. And once I finished that, then I applied at the district office if I could find a job in the office, so I ended up at Leland High School as a registrar's assistant. Then from there I heard that Unified was building a new high school, Gunderson High School, so I thought, well, I'll try applying there, which I did. They needed a media person, so I said, "I don't know too much about media," but they needed someone, so I said, "Okay, I'll try," so I did. So I took care of the overheads and PA systems and what have you. From there, I moved over to career center, and that's where juniors especially and seniors come for help about colleges and about job opportunities and what have you, so it was a real fun position. I worked there 'til I was seventy. And then in the meantime, I had cramps in my legs, and so my friend said, "Well, take quinine." So I took quinine, which took care of the cramps, but in the meantime, I lost my hearing. And I found later, at different hearing conferences, that quinine is the worst thing to take because it affects your hearing. It does something with your fine hair follicles in there, and it deadens it, which it did for me, so I lost my hearing. So when I had to go to different campuses to find out the update of new courses, I wasn't really hearing everything that I was supposed to, and I realized that it was not fair to the students who came to me, and not being able to communicate what was offering by the UC system or the state system or what have you. So I decided I better quit when I was seventy years old. I didn't want to leave because I had such a fun place, and the kids, it was really interesting and fun place to be. But reluctantly, I gave up my position. And since then I have retired, so then they gave me a nice party and all that.

But I've been in the background for Jimi because he became active in all the community things that happened. And some people said, "Well, Jimi's out there just to make a name for himself," but it is not that. It's because when he was fourteen years old and he was driving his father to different organizations where his father was involved, they would drink and discuss things and Jim would just sit there and just listen. He was exposed to that at his young, tender age, so he felt the need to be active within the community to help the public realize some of the things that are going on, so that's why he's out there, not just to have people say, "Oh, there's Jimi, he's out there to get his name out," it isn't that, but that's how they interpret it. So he doesn't type or anything, so then I'm the one that does that kind of... so that's how I support him. And when he needs to go somewhere, then he's, fortunately, he always asks me, "Would you like to go?" Some of the guys I know, they never ask their wives to go with them, but Jimi always asks me and I'm very, very fortunate.

So then I've been exposed to different people that way, too. So now, like we just had the bazaar, and I'm sitting there and they go, "Hi, Eiko." "Who was that?" kind of thing, then I could recall. But that part has been an asset for me because of him. So I've been kind of helping him out that way, so that's my life. And then also I try to keep myself healthy, so I take different classes and health, exercise and all that. And I've made quite a few friends because of the exercising classes. I don't go to any gym or anything like that. But after we exercise, then we go to Greenlee's market, Greenlee's bakery, the girls drink their coffee, and sometimes they'll buy a pastry. But I have my hot water, which is fine. I don't drink coffee that often, once in a while. And so we do that every Monday. They do that Wednesdays, too, but Wednesdays I go play Scrabble. I try to keep my mind... and I'm not as alert as my younger players, but they put up with me, so I appreciate that. But it makes me think, so that's good for me. And they realize that and they're very kind to me, so I go every Wednesday. Then on Fridays I volunteer my time at the senior center, Yu-Ai Kai in San Jose. What we do is just open up the newspaper, and then we stack it up into twenty-five pounds. And then the main guys pick it all up and they roll it up and tie it up. And that's bought by flower growers and some farmers. So that's how we raise money for the senior center, so I volunteer every Friday about two hours or so. We used to do six hours, but because of lack of paper, we just do about nine o'clock until eleven-thirty, and that's all we do. It's a no-brainer job, but we just stand there, we chitter-chatter and we just stack up the papers. We have a platter made, a board, and we just open it up and just flip it in there, pick up the paper. So it's a no brainer, but it's okay, we were raising money for a cause, so it's okay. Then we have our lunch, then I go to the museum and we have a group that makes different crafts. We make cards of all kinds, and little things that she wants us to make, we'll do. So that's my whole week, that's how I spend every week. And then on Tuesdays and Thursdays are my free days, so those are days when I schedule my dental or doctor appointments. So I have a full days, and Saturday and Sunday give me time to take care of my house and stuff, washing, laundry stuff. But that's typical of my day.

In the meantime, Jimi has to go here and there, so, "You want to come along?" kind of thing, I tag along. So I'm exposed to that part of it, too, so it's helping me. Yeah, we're out there, and the to the public, maybe they think that, "Oh, yeah, Yamaichi's out there to get a name," but it's not so. We're just out there continue what our first generation did, and hopefully the third and fourth generation will continue to keep it going, that kind of thing. And the museum was started with Jimi and some of the other fellows, and it was their vision together, and that's how it came to be. So that's a plus.

KL: That's the Japanese American Museum of San Jose?

EY: Uh-huh. And both of us realize that we're getting older, so we need to slowly pass it on to younger ones. So he's doing that, so training some of the younger ones to slowly take over the museum.

KL: That's great that those people are there, that museum is really, it strikes me as really special, all volunteer effort.

EY: That's right. And they're willing to give up their time to help promote the museum, so it's just wonderful. They know they're not going to get paid, but they come after work sometimes, and some of them are already retired, they give a full day, and it's really heartwarming to see that happen.

KL: Who were some of the other people who helped start it?

EY: You got to ask him. One of them was a professor... what's his name? Okazaki? Anyway, they had a vision. So they started out as Japanese American Resource Center, JARC, resource center. And then they moved to... there was a house where the museum stands now, and used to be the residence and also office for Dr. Ishikawa, both of them passed on. And so a friend of theirs, Sakauye, he bought it from him and he donated the land to the museum. So because of that, the museum happened. Actually, the museum could have used a basement, because it's growing so much, with so many information, but they didn't have the money, when they borrowed the money to build, they only had enough money to build the two story buildings. That's the way it had to be. But anyway, it's nice that... oh yeah, Ken Iwagaki was one of them. So about four guys had this vision, and to see that come to fruition is really nice, heartwarming. Gary Okazaki, I guess that's his name. He's a professor now at some college. So Gary, Ken Iwagaki, Jimi, I wonder if there was a fourth person. You got to ask him.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.