Densho Digital Archive - Henry Nakano Interview (denshovh-nhenry-01-0003)

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RP: Can you tell us something about your father's background in Japan? What type of family did he come from and...

HN: Well, I think my father's family came from an independent business type of family in the city of Okayama. And my mother's background is she comes from a samurai family and lived in the country. And my dad came to America in 1906, and he went to work for Briningstool Paint Company as a manager mixing the formulas on the floor to make paint. And he held that job 'til 1928.

RP: And this company was located in Los Angeles?

HN: In Los Angeles, yes. Called Briningstool Paint Company which was then sold to General Paint Company. And, that today is, was bought out by somebody else and I forget who it is, but...

RP: You mentioned earlier, Standard Brands?

HN: I think Standard Brands bought General Paint out.

RP: Yeah, okay.

HN: So my dad then retired from the paint company and bought a store in east L.A. and he ran a grocery store for ten years. Then he decided... my uncle all this time, his brother came to America. I forgot to tell you that.

RP: What was his brother's name?

HN: Tsuneshiro.

RP: Oh.

HN: T-S-U-N-E-S-H-I-R-O. And he worked on a farm all his life, here in the States. Worked at different truck farmers. There's always work 'cause they all had farms. The Japanese American Isseis, they had farms most of 'em. And so he talked my dad into opening, I mean, starting a farm in north Hollywood. And so that's when we went to north Hollywood with the whole family and he started a truck farming business for two years before the war broke out. And that's where we ended up going to Manzanar.

RP: Tell us about your dad physically and personality-wise.

HN: My dad was a pretty quiet man, didn't say much, hard worker. He wasn't the disciplinarian, my mother was. And so we all, you know, really loved our dad. And when we went to camp, it was hard on him. You know, he didn't think he had to go. He had to sell everything, his farm, equipment, horses, cars. I don't know how much he got but he probably didn't get very much. It was a distress sale and then we all got carted off onto... we got on train in L.A. It took us right to Manzanar.

RP: That's right. You said you just boarded it...

HN: Yeah, with two suitcases each. That's all they allowed.

RP: Unlike other people who got together as a large group and were all...

HN: Well, yeah, they... most of the people that I know got together at assembly centers. Like in Santa Anita, or up north it was Tanforan Racetrack. And then from there they were sent to whatever camp designation for them to go to. They got split up. But the people in, in north Hollywood and San Fernando Valley and San Fernando and Van Nuys and those areas, all the farmers, were sent to Manzanar, looks like.