<Begin Segment 5>

AC: How did you feel when you had to go to the Expo Center, the "assembly center"?

KT: Well, we accepted it. By gosh, they would, just packed up whatever you can carry, it was all we could carry, so I know my dad, he had some pictures, you know, emperor of Japan, you know, things like that, he said he buried them someplace. We went back and couldn't find it. So those things happened. It's something that we talk about, and that is the great thing that we experienced. It'll be a history, everybody, and there's many, many people that it was really a sad situation.

AC: How was it like in the Expo Center?

KT: Pardon?

AC: What was it like in the Expo Center when you arrived?

KT: Well, we were like one whole family. It's amazing, you know, we were all very comfortable, we just, we accepted it, that's the main thing. It isn't that it's comfortable, you just accepted it. And you know how Japanese people, gaman suru, you know, they call it, Japanese, and by gosh, I have to hand it to 'em. I'm not bragging because I'm a Japanese, but I hear from my parents and I hear from... then I worked with the Japanese consul a lot, so I know their feelings there. They are courteous. I worked with the Japanese consul a lot, and this is one up here. See, "Dear Teramura," that's sent to me from Hokkaido. I was agricultural tour over there, and they were very, very good to me.

Being Japanese, I had quite a bit of advantage in my onion business, too. You know, the Japanese are the winter onion, they had their markets over there in China, the Philippines, Oriental market, and then they could buy onions from the U.S., so they were pretty much concerned about their market. They're not going to tell you the secrets of market, but being Japanese, I worked with them, so they used to call me, I used to call them in Hokkaido. Sometime I'd get my time mixed and I'd wake 'em up. They said, "Oh, I'm the caretaker." He says, "Only five o'clock in the morning." "Oh," I said, "I'm sorry," get a hold of the man over there. So those things do happen. But it was a great experience. But that's one of them, and then you can see there, it's just full of it. But anyway, I worked with the businesspeople. I was honest to 'em, they were real honest to me, and I think that was part of my whole life enjoyment. I'm just telling you people, but to me, I will never forget it. And I tell my son the same thing: there are secrets in all trades.

AC: Did you go to Japanese school as a child?

KT: No, I didn't go to Japanese school, I just learned Japanese by parents and my sisters. They're all pretty fluent in Japanese, read and write. But I'm not Japanese at all, but I speak it quite a bit. But, you know, I'm not like I used to be. I have trouble with people's names, and so I really was, I was kind of not accepting this particular interview, but anyway, we'll work with you.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.