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JC: Okay. So today is April 2, 2003. This is an interview conducted by Jane Comerford with Frances Ota, O-T-A. Good morning.

FO: Good morning.

JC: So Frances, I'd like to begin this interview by asking you some real basic questions like where were you born, what year were you born, and to tell me a little bit about your, who your parents were and your siblings. So if we could start there, maybe you could just give me those first five years of your life.

FO: I was born at Wilsonville, Oregon, January 22, 1923. I'm the third. I have an older sister and an older brother, and I'm number three. We ended up with a family of seven children.

JC: What did your, what did your father do?

FO: Well, we were out in remote Columbia County. Our address was Scappoose, Oregon, and he worked for the Clark and Wilson Lumber Company. And on the sideline, he started a silver fox farm, and I just vaguely remember some of the foxes.

JC: So can you tell me what your early life was like out in Scappoose as a family?

FO: Well, there were no Japanese neighbors whatsoever, and our friends were Caucasian neighbors. And our activities were, this was on a 15 acre wooded, it wasn't a ranch. It was just sort of remote, and we played with the neighbor kids. And in the summertime, there was a creek running through, and we would, we all were self-taught. We could all swim, learning on our own. But our summers were very pleasant. We played amongst ourselves and our neighbor children. I recall it being carefree. But I think times were really hard, but the neighbors were in the same situation, so we never felt deprived. I think my childhood was a good family wise until my father's death on this railroad accident, and our lives changed drastically from thereon. We had to move, and my mother was receiving the state industrial accident pension. And through her friends was advised that maybe she should return to Japan where life would be a lot easier. Prior to getting her passport and getting ready for the Japan trip, we worked, I believe it was two summers picking hops and doing odd things. I remember a place called Banks, Oregon, where we were picking hops, and I believe Independence. And I'm just a little ten year old kid, and I was a babysitter for my younger siblings, so I never did any of the work, but I recall doing those things.

JC: And so what year did you then leave?

FO: It was 1930... was it '6 or '7? I believe my father's death was '35, so it was either 1936 or '37. I remember we, I remember Columbus Day, arriving in Japan on Columbus Day.

JC: Tell me about the years in Japan, who was there and how did you live and --

FO: Well, the years in Japan with my mother's pension money, we were, we lived well. But first we were in a rented home, and then my mother built this home. And to this day, my sister and I marvel at how she was able to save the money to build the home. But the money ratio at that time was very extreme compared to today's, one dollar would bring you 360 yen, and that lasted for a long time. So our, the living arrangement was very good.

JC: And so while you were in Japan, was there, what was happening in terms of the war?

FO: Well, around, what was it, around '39, '40, there was much talk and unrest about war, and we'd always learn that America was going to start the war, and I'd write to my older sister, Grace. She didn't like Japan at all. And of course, she was already, she had started high school here. And being a good student, she was a wonderful student, and she just didn't like Japan at all. And of course, in Scappoose, we were not able to go to the Japanese school like the Portland youngsters did here. We were too far away, so we had no, the basic language at all except conversational language that we learned at home. And so in Japan, schooling was, it was really rough for us. We had private tutors come to the home, and I'd remember him showing picture books, apple means ringo and orange means ringo, and we were learning very old basic Japanese through a tutor.

JC: And so you heard that America was going to start a war and your sister is in the United States. She's there, but you're still in Japan with your mom. So what happens at that point?

FO: Well, my sister attended Lincoln High School, and that is where Mrs. Mabel Southworth was the teacher there, and she was a long time teacher at Lincoln High School, and she befriended my sister. And she, in fact, her trip to, returning to America was on her... what was the word I want to use? I think she beckoned her to come, and she could stay with her and go to school, and that was how she was able to come to America. So she came to the Southworths' home, and she helped with the housework, and that's how we became acquainted with Mrs., Mr. and Mrs. Southworth. And due to her again with all this war talk, I would write to my sister. I'd say, "I won't be able to return to Japan, or to America. There's too much war talk." And you know, my sister would write back and say, "You've never had it so good. There's no talk of war here."

JC: And so Mrs. Southworth became your benefactor?

FO: Uh-huh. She also became my benefactor. And my mother agreed that I could return to America as well.

JC: When you were in Japan, did people know that you were from America, and how were you treated?

FO: It's, we never, well, we didn't feel discriminated. In fact, we were looked upon sort of in awe, you know. My older sister would, would often say, "Oh, these people are staring at us," and such. And she was tall for her age, so she was called a beanpole or whatever, and she makes that remark, but we weren't discriminated. They seemed to treat us like in awe. But my mother's stories of what, when the war struck, during wartime, the town of Hiratsuka where she built the home, the whole town was flattened by bombs, but our house remained. And my mother said the resentment was hard to bear. Here there's a family from America, and their home is still intact, and the rest of the city were just flattened by the bombs. And I thought, oh, that must have been hard for her to bear.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.