Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Katsumi Okamoto
Narrator: Katsumi Okamoto
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Date: November 7, 2007
Densho ID: denshovh-okatsumi-01-0003

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RP: Did you live, was there a room adjoining the store?

KO: Behind the store we had a house, uh-huh. Really, we slept in one long big bedroom 'til we moved from the, because of the project, you know, the housing project in Seattle. They put it up on the First Hill, and so we were right on the edge of it and we had to move. My dad lost his business, but I guess he was, helped to establish a new one up on Madison Avenue a little ways up the, further away. I remember him working hard to establish that.

RP: Another grocery store?

KO: Yes, uh-huh. It was a little bigger one this time.

RP: Now, being an Issei, he was not allowed to own land or a business.

KO: That's right.

RP: So he basically leased or rented it.

KO: Basically rented, yeah.

RP: And the second store, financially, how was, did the condition of the family improve over time?

KO: Didn't seem... well, changed a little bit. One thing is because we had the store, we ate well compared to others because we had the... and I think in those days they did a lot of bartering. I think we got a dental service 'cause I remember delivering groceries to the dentist, and that's, I guess they did that in the old days a lot.

RP: So you were the delivery boy?

KO: Well, not really, I wasn't old enough yet when they were doing that, yes.

RP: How did your father's business survive during the Depression years?

KO: He seemed to have done very well, but his problem was he let people charge, and I wonder, I heard word that he never collected on a lot of the bills. And once the war started, that was it. He lost a lot of money, but he was a very gentle-hearted person that helped people out.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.