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AC: So at the end of the war, how did you feel?

KT: When the war ended? Well, things really didn't change overnight, actually. I didn't think things had changed that much, but we did go through ration after the war and things like that. But I don't know, we seem to went through. We had to sacrifice a lot. You couldn't get all the gas, you heard about that.

AC: So how was it for you? What did you do?

KT: Well, those days, farmers were allowed a little more extra gas, so we'd smuggle the gas, tank of gas in the back there and then haul it, then go and dump it back in. My children were going to Corvallis, so that's how I went to Corvallis and back. Hauled my own gas. And then when they did sell you gas, they only sold you as low as one gallon was all they would give you. Lot of places, couple of gallons. Then they'd be out of gas; it was something. And then we went through the, what we call a meat ration, there was no more meat. But the people that had storages, the wealthy people, they had walk-in locker, they had plenty. I've seen a lot of that. Well, that's natural, you know. And so you can't help that. But we got by. But I think all farmers were pretty fortunate. They had their own livestock and everything. But it was quite a struggle. That war was, it wasn't just the evacuees, there was other people that really suffered, too. It was quite a depression. But I don't know, we all made it through somehow. [Laughs] Are you getting that right over there, young man? By gosh.

AC: How did you feel, what was your feelings when you heard about the atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

KT: Well, I thought more about it afterwards, you know, you hear so much, you hear that other countries had special bombs, but it was quite a... I kind of think the West could have overdone. I think they did. They need to apologize on that one. Because other countries could have used it, they could still use it. So I hear, that they got this real treacherous material if they want to use it. But U.S. used it, but it's all done and said for, so can't pick up the milk after it's spilled. But that's a lesson. I went back to Hiroshima, so I know, I've seen it. Not right after, I mean, it was pretty well back, but a lot of the remains were still there. I went to Japan a couple of times, and then I covered the agriculture up in Hokkaido, the competitor of our onions in the wintertime, so I made a good survey of Japanese. But the Japanese people were sure smart, I have to hand it... not because I'm Japanese. You know, they had nothing. A country like, small country, and that bomb hit that, they've been fighting for years, and they became number one twenty-five years after the war, Japan had the world by the tail. I went to Europe and said, "Oh, I'm Japanese." They said, oh, they thought I was from Japan. No, I'm from U.S. I went on an agricultural over to Holland where the plant breeding, you know, that's, a lot of the seed they develop over there went to France and Holland. Belgium, the countries right there, and so got to see the agriculture, then plant we used in Holland are quite extensive. Went to the World's Fair there, it's one of the largest in the world, in Amsterdam. I covered a lot of that. And they're... I wouldn't say they're primitive, but there's a real smart operations. Today it's much poorer. They're doing a lot of experimenting. There are no secrets in this world today, looks like. When I came over here, you know, our agriculture was different, too. And then onions, nobody knew anything about onions. You couldn't find talk about onions in our agriculture, in the books or anything. There was nothing to write about. Today, there's a lot. The plant breeding is all hybrid, cross, it gives them different seed. Because when I first came here, I grew my own seed, and he selected the nicest bulbs to grow the onions. But anyway, onion is, our Japanese farmers here, that's their main crop, and that's what we have made our money on. But it's getting tougher like anything else. And there is no more small farms now. When this organization here -- did you talk to Joe Saito? Yeah, he told you about the onions. We're the ones that, Japanese are the ones that really started that. So to get some money to get started, I went around with another party to get postage money to send the letters out. Our organization did have any money but we're doing real good now. And Joe Saito was quite active and did a lot of work for the organization, and I've been chairman of this for a long time. So I know all about it. And my time is over. Everything's on the computer. Said, "Dad, here's the computer," this and that, make pictures and this and that. I don't want to waste any time with it.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.