<Begin Segment 2>

LD: How many children were there in your family, and where did you grow up?

HT: Well, there was five of us. We all grew up out on the farm. Yeah, there were five boys. We didn't have any sisters. And so we grew up on the farm, helped on the farm. And of course, every, well, all the time, we helped clear the land, and that's where we grew up, you might say.

LD: So which child were you in the five sons?

HT: I was the second son.

LD: And I believe after you were growing up in Troutdale for a while, you moved after that?

HT: Yes, yes. This is another story. You know, in those days, the Isseis are really, believed in education, so can you imagine my folks gave up their farm. They owned the farm, and they moved to Parkrose which is where we are now I might say, and they purchased, not purchased, they rented a place for five years just to send us to Nihongakko. There was none out there in Troutdale you see, so they moved out there. And then, so we started going to Japanese school, and I think we were down in 1921, I think. But anyway, 1923, they closed it, you know. There was haiseki. They just closed all the Japanese schools, so we had to quit going to school. But then we had already leased the property, so we stayed there for five years, and that was the year that, end of that year, folks took us all to Nihon, the five of us just to go to Japan in September. And the last day of that year, December 31st, we came back to America again, and we moved back up on the farm in Troutdale.

LD: While you were in Parkrose, what did your parents do for a living at that time?

HT: The same thing; we were farmers, just truck farming, yeah. Talk about farming, when we were up there in Troutdale way back, in those days my folks would, not my folks, my dad would take the produce to the markets, you know. At evening, get through work and then take the horse, not horse and buggy, but the horse and team to go to the market. And so he would take the team to go down the market in the morning and then whatever they could sell and then came back. And he used to tell me the story that he was so tired, he would fall asleep, but the horses will always come back, come back to bring him home, lightning, everything, yeah. It's something that I'll never forget, you know. Yeah. But then I'll get back to Parkrose. Later on, then we moved to Parkrose, you see.

LD: How else did Japanese family values affect your childhood about the amount of food you ate? I believe you were talking about rice?

HT: Yeah, I was. Like I said, there were five of us boys, you know. We were pretty healthy eaters, you see. Anyway, my dad would always purchase, in those days the rice would come in a hundred pound sack and they always say, "I bought another ten sacks, so we'll eat for another year." And that was the thing because in those days, economy was really bad. It was Depression. Right at that time when we were growing was really the bottom of the Depression, and that was so many people, the Isseis were having a hard time, the meals were coming from, really, you know. Like Dad would say, we have rice so we'll eat for another year because we ate whatever we raised, you see. We never went out and purchased anything. See, so, I remember Dad used to we were so poor that he would, during the winter months he would go out and borrow money from his friend for ten dollars. Can you imagine ten dollars to live on? And then of course in those days, we charge groceries to the grocery store and charge it. So we would say we'll pay you off when the berry season. And then we pay it up, and then now we have the written charge again. And then here at the fall harvest, the cauliflower or whatever so we're always behind time. But it was Depression. It was a typical family life in those days, yeah, very few was, made a success out of them. [Laughs]

LD: It was a difficult time. Because of the Depression and as you said, five sons in the family, you, was there a time when it was so difficult perhaps you were going to live with someone else?

HT: Yeah. Well, as I said, a friend of ours, his name was Kuwabara. He was a friend from, lived out, they lived on a farm too. But they didn't have no child, so they wanted adopt me in the worst way because I used to go there and spend some time over the weekend and things, you know. And I wanted to go too because at home, you had to share everything. We didn't have the luxuries, you know. So, but then the parents never did that, you know. And when I think about it now, I'm sure glad they didn't, yeah, so it was something. And another thing I thought of in those days the neighborhood that, was a bachelor, and you know, so you had everything you wanted. Here we're poor and had to share things. I said, "When I grow up, I want to be a bachelor, so I can have whatever I want at home." I guess that didn't work out, but I'm glad it didn't either. Nothing like having a family.

LD: Back to your visit to Japan, can you remember any experiences having grown up in America, going to Japan? Was it a strange feeling, or did it feel like you belonged there?

HT: Yeah, it was kind of a funny feeling. But to begin with, in those days, we went on a ship, took two weeks, and I can't think of the name. But in those days, we had the ship, the steep, and there was the quarters for the third party would ride on the tail end where the rudder was really shaking, and I was sick for a whole two weeks. Most of us were sick for whole two weeks, two weeks, traveling. And then like I said, when you get there with your parents, you're spoiled. They treat you good and so they want to come back. And of course, we didn't go to school, you know. We were just there two months, see. Took us two weeks to go and two weeks to come back, see, so it was two months. And we just so they just treat it that you didn't have to go to school, didn't have to study or anything, and it was lovely. [Laughs] And there again, I didn't want to come back either, you know. But then the parents brought us all back. And there again, I'm glad they did, you know. So you got some crazy ideas when you're kids, but the way it turned out, I really appreciate it.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.