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AC: Tell me about your mother.

KT: Well, Mother was... after the war, they were, we were not exactly separate, but she lived over on the coast, so she visited us quite often, from Portland to Ontario, which was quite a ways in those days. Today there's nothing to it because of the highways and stuff. But they always came over in the summertime, and in the fall, and went back and forth. And my mother, she lived good, and always enjoyed the kids. And so I had, I was very fortunate that we were, had parents to the old age.

AC: How were they when you were growing up?

KT: Well, we were pretty close. My folks... I had two sisters that were in Japan and were educated over there. They called those Kibei. Well, what is it? They have a name for that.

AC: So when did your sisters go to Japan?

KT: Well, they were sent back when they were real small, and they got their education, so they were bilingual, that is, after they came to America, they learned English. And one of my sisters is still on the farm, and she's way up in age. And then my other sister, she's in Portland. And so they're both, husbands are gone now, so living pretty good yet, there. They're able to get around.

AC: When did they come back from Japan?

KT: Well, one of 'em was, they finished eighth grade, and my other sister, she finished Japanese high school. So she was a seamstress, so she did a lot of that work for I. Magnin out of the main office was in San Francisco, I. Magnin? You've heard of... no more now, but she worked for them in the alteration department in Portland. So she retired from there. And her husband was a cook at Larry's restaurant. I don't think you know, but it's the old timer, he was the one of the top residents in the West Coast. He was quite an active man. Larry Hiller, Broadway.

AC: When did your parents come to the United States?

KT: They, as I say, it's around 1908, or '06 or '08, around in there.

AC: And he went back to Japan?

KT: And my dad went back married, and they came back. And then I was born, then I had, two sisters were born, and a brother.

AC: And you moved, you were evacuated from the camp, from when you were at Clackamas. How was it growing up in the Depression on the farm?

KT: Growing up?

AC: During the early 1930s when you were in Clackamas?

KT: Oh, those days there was quite a Depression. And I had just about out of school time, so in the winter months, there were WPA workers and did a lot of that type of work. And we just survived through the winter, and it was tough going, but we were happy. We didn't really... maybe the parents probably thought more of the Depression, but I was young yet, so naturally, we accepted buying chewing gum for a nickel a package. And so we were quite comfortable. I really wasn't down in a rut. I accepted the life as it is, and I didn't grieve about it, didn't cry over it. You have to accept it.

AC: Did you ever have to take your berries to market?

KT: Oh, we, my dad did all of that, but we had a stand out there in front, right by the highway, because our land was close to it, so I remember that pretty well, selling berries there on the highway.

AC: Do you stand there and watch the cars come by?

KT: Well, it's summertime, so it's seasonal, so we'd set up a berry, and then for canvas over for, as a shade, we did that, and then had a few vegetables, and sold vegetables there, so that kind of kept a little income around. So we were real comfortable, but my age at that time, of course, we wouldn't realize what Depression is. But today, everybody is so much conscious about financial, so there's the great stress if you do. But those days, I think all the Isseis I'm talking about, they seemed to be all happy about things, and they made it through. It's amazing, you have to hand it to them. You have to accept it. Some can't, and then it's kind of bad. So I enjoyed every bit of it, in all my life, I was pretty much happy with the life that I had lived up to now. I really enjoyed every bit of it. There were some sad times, when market wasn't this or that. We had some heavy hailstorms, but you have to have some luck. And when you have a hailstorm, your crop is gone, and the price happened to be just right, and the market was short, so I come out. But everyone says okay, says, hailstorm, you make money. Nobody liked that. Well, that's luck. And any of this, don't have to be the smartest man in the world, but there are luck. That's all... I guess I have to be thankful that I did have some luck. Maybe not all the luck. [Laughs] You're laughing awful heavy there.

AC: Do you remember much about your school, your schooling?

KT: Schooling? I enjoyed schooling. 'Cause I was a little guy, played baseball, this and that, but you know, they used to make fun of me. But anyway, I enjoyed school. But I only went up to high school, then I took, I started to take a little course in business, and that was, but I didn't do too much 'cause the war come along. But the education, no. I just had high school, then I had the responsibility of my folks, the war come, and you got to do something. Then I got married, so then that's another responsibility.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.