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RP: What was life like for your grandmother in the United States?

TH: My grandmother (Haru) was born in 1875, and unfortunately, she did not have an education in Japan, she was illiterate. Couldn't read Japanese. She labored most of her life at the family farm. And so when war broke out and we went to the relocation centers, she renewed her health, and she studied Japanese. My father wrote out simple katakana and hiragana characters, and she read them, and so every opportunity she got to read a Japanese newspaper or a magazine, she was reading.

RP: So the whole world opened up to her.

TH: A world opened up to her.

RP: What values did your parents try to instill?

TH: They tried hard, bless 'em. The usual: gratitude, honesty, work hard, study hard, honor your parents, etcetera.

RP: How were they with you kids? Were they pretty strict?

TH: Excuse me?

RP: Were they very strict? Was your upbringing pretty...

TH: No, I don't think so. I think they were pretty reasonable, which I appreciate.

RP: So your father stayed involved in agriculture until about 1938 when you moved to Redwood City?

TH: Yes. We were, at that time he changed his business, and we were now engaged in the flower growing business in Redwood City. And it was very comfortable for us because we lived in a little Japanese community of flower growers, of like flower growers. And Redwood City was very, very friendly to us, so we were very comfortable.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.