<Begin Segment 7>

MK: Let me go back to what happened before the war. You were fifteen when you came over to the U.S. and had to work in the fields. You learned English at school. Did you go to American schools at all?

CE: I went to the American school for about three months.

MK: Three months. Was that all?

CE: I didn't have to speak English. [Laughs]

MK: It was probably just like when you lived in Japan.

CE: Yes.

MK: Nothing was different at home.

CE: That's right.

MK: Did you frequently go visit Japantown in the downtown area?

CE: We didn't go out very often.

MK: It was far, wasn't it?

CE: It was far.

MK: Was rice available?

CE: Yes, rice was available, and so was everything else.

MK: Did you make natto then?

CE: Yes, we did. We didn't have an electric pot in those days. We placed a pot next to the stove and kept stirring to make natto. [Laughs]

MK: Oh, I see. The cooking stove was a wood burning stove, wasn't it?

CE: Yes, yes. We burnt logs, put a pot over it and kept stirring on and on.

MK: There was no electricity, right?

CE: No electricity.

MK: Everything was wood burning.

CE: Yes.

MK: How did you keep yourselves warm in the winter?

CE: We were burning logs.

MK: In a stove?

CE: Yes.

MK: In the house?

CE: Yes. [Laughs]

MK: So you lived with your father, mother and your brother, four of you lived together in the house.

CE: Yes.

MK: Your father was working hard.

CE: We were working hard too.

MK: So were you. Your mother was working hard too in the fields.

CE: Yes, we all worked together.

MK: Did you lease the fields?

CE: Yes, we did. The landlord's house had gas, and he had gas lamps. We were renting one of his houses, but it was a small one without electricity or gas.

MK: How about water?

CE: We did have a water pipe coming in. We had water.

MK: It must have been hard.

CE: It was.

MK: I would imagine especially in the winter.

CE: We burned wood in the stove when it was very cold.

MK: Did you have an outhouse?

CE: Yes, it was outside back in those days. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.