<Begin Segment 3>

RP: What did your father do when he settled here? It was Sacramento?

FY: Yes. He had a restaurant, and his customers were cannery workers.

RP: From which cannery?

FY: Campbell, I think.

RP: Campbell soup?

FY: Yes, uh-huh. And they were his customer, and whenever they had a break, he would have a coffee and donut ready for them for five cents. [Laughs]

RP: So the restaurant was very close to the cannery?

FY: Yes, it was, very much. And his restaurant was open twenty-four hours.

RP: And so was the cannery?

FY: I guess so, yes. I think so.

RP: And what type of food did he serve in his restaurant?

FY: American food.

RP: And do you know where he learned how to cook? Was it something he just picked up in his time in America?

FY: Yes, that's right. He worked as a cook, I think, for a family, and then gradually he began to... he enjoyed cooking, so that was nice.

RP: What did you think of his food?

FY: It was very good.

RP: What was your favorite dish?

FY: That he made? Oh, he made so many things, I don't know. He used to make pies, he used to make doughnuts and coffee for five cents. And he used to make stews and all sorts of things.

RP: Did you work in the restaurant when you were growing up?

FY: No. I was too busy being a student.

RP: Now, where did your family live? Did they live in the city of Sacramento?

FY: Uh-huh.

RP: Where?

FY: On P Street.

RP: P Street.

FY: Yes, on Fourth and P.

RP: And how far away was the restaurant from your home?

FY: Oh, let's see now. The restaurant was on J Street, so J, K, and P. So that's six blocks, is it?

RP: Did you own your own home?

FY: No, we rented a home because my father felt he wanted to go back to Japan. We asked him to please buy this home, we like it. But he said, "No, no, I have to go back to Japan."

RP: Give us a portrait of your father, his personality, his physical appearance, and how he was as a father to you and your brothers and sisters?

FY: Oh, he was very kind to us. He did not drink, and we loved him.

RP: Was he strict?

FY: No, he wasn't strict at all. Because we were very well-behaved children. [Laughs]

RP: And what values do you, did he instill in you?

FY: Oh, to be honest, to be hardworking, and I guess those two values, he wanted us to have.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.