<Begin Segment 1>

AC: This is an interview with Kay Teramura, Nisei, ninety-year-old man, and this interview is taking place in Ontario, Oregon, December the 5th, 2004. The interviewer is Alton Chung of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center's Oral History Project 2004. Thank you so very much for meeting with us, Kay. It's just a real privilege just to be here and to chat with you. Just want to start off really easily. Where were you born and when were you born?

KT: Well, my parents were in Portland, Oregon, and they came here in 1905 or '06, and then my dad went back and got married and then came back, and then he started to farming in Portland, Oregon, at a farm... not a farm, it was more or less a wealthy man that had a little acreage, and that's how the gardening, truck gardening, he started the farm. And then, from there, we were in Portland, Oregon, out at Clackamas, that's where we farmed until the war. Well, it wasn't the war, it was after I graduated from high school back in Milwaukie, then we moved over to the location in Clackamas River, and that's where we evacuated in 1942, the outbreak of the war. And from there we went to camp, and then from there, at Minidoka is where we started to, in the camp, and worked around during harvest season through the sugar beet farms, we were able to -- but yet, in the winter, we had to go back. And so that's how I got started to farming where I am today.

And at that time, we were able to relocate, so we didn't know when we will be able to go back to our pleasant place, so I started farming with some partners, and that was my brother-in-law and another family, Ed Nagata, and he's from California. So the three of us started, and after we had started the farming, we were able to go back. So my sister and brother-in-law, they took over the farm from where we evacuated. And so they're over there, and I stayed here because I had a lease. And my partner, Nagata, who had the farm in Kingsburg, and they were grape growers, so they also went back. So I stayed here with the lease and took over, and I enjoyed this climate, and it kind of... done real well, I kind of like the area as I came out from camp to work. So we were in camp there four or five years at Minidoka. And so that's the beginning of my farming career here. And, of course, I got married at that time, in camp, and then my son, Kenneth, and then my daughter, Dinah Teramura, and Gail, they were all born here. So this is my family side, I just had the three children. So from there, my family grew. And so if there's any... and from there on, why, the children grew up, so the girls, they all grew up, they're married. One's in Seattle, and the other one is in Portland, and they are working in... they're microbiologists, so they're working in the medical field. And my son is here, and his family, three of 'em are married. In fact, they're, all four are married now, and so they're all here. Three of 'em are here, one's in California. Now, is there anything that you want to ask about the family?

[Interruption]

KT: And when I was in camp, of course, that was my whole beginning. I kind of fell for this area, the climate, it's altogether different location, but we had to get used to it. But in agriculture, this is, rainfall here, only five or six, seven inches. Where I come from was several feet, rained every day. So I had to get used to it, but I worked with the university a lot, which I was kind of attached to before I came here. So I had great help from them because this is a completely different environment in farming, and the crops were different. Now... yes?

AC: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

KT: Pardon?

AC: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

KT: Oh, I have two sisters, they're both in Portland, then I have one brother in New York, married, and then I have another brother that's here in the farm. And I'm going to get to him. He was in the army, 442, and his name is Yas Teramura. So when he came back, I put him to farming. I acquired part of the land, so we more or less kind of worked together, 'cause I had all the equipment and everything, and most of the equipment at that time was hard to get. So I had shipped over from Portland where I was farming before. So that was a great help. 'Cause you couldn't buy equipment to even farm.

AC: Tell me about your father.

KT: My father was also in camp, and my mother. And so they were both out of the camp, and they went back to their home place in Portland, and they both, my mother passed away first, and then my father passed away. My mother was on the young side. Well, it is now, but she was seventy-five, my dad was around eighty-four. So they've both been gone for a good many years. And they all went back to Portland because of the fact that their friends were all over there, and then we had a place over there before, so went back to the vegetable farming, the ground that they had before the war. So they're all gone now, they're all gone.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 2>

AC: Tell me about growing up in Clackamas.

KT: Me growing up?

AC: Yeah.

KT: Well, when I was growing up over there, my first job... my folks were berry farmers, pretty much, and raspberries and strawberries, like that. And so when I grew up in that neighborhood, we had all hakujin, naturally, and they were great friends of mine. So I joined the Boy Scouts at the age of twelve, and my first income was delivering, they call it... it's a newspaper route, and they're gone now. And so that was my job. I'd go to the railroad station and pick up the mail, I mean, the newspaper, and deliver, and made about ten or twelve dollars a month. And so I had a bank account when I was twelve years old, at the U.S. National Bank. So I'm still with it, so you can see, I'm one of the old timers of the bank. The bank has changed a lot, they all start big... it's still the U.S. Bank, and I'm one of the old-timers. So that was the beginning of my income, and so that's the way I started. I was in business at twelve years old. [Laughs]

AC: Did you also work on the family farm?

KT: Oh, yes, that's right, we did. And that's the way I grew up and I raised my family, and that's the way they all... now the thing has changed a lot. So I still have my son, but my grandson, he's not a farmer.

AC: What did you have to do on the family farm?

KT: Well, family farm was still there.

AC: What kinds of jobs did you do while raising berries?

KT: Well, I was pretty small in those days, but we did have berries, yes. That was the beginning. But the time when we moved over, why, I was still going to school. So I was around twenty-four or -five when the war came around, so I was over at a place where my sister is living now. And so they still have the farm, we still have it, it's in the family. It's over in Portland.

AC: You graduated from Milwaukie High School?

KT: No, I went to Milwaukie and graduated from Oregon City High School.

AC: Tell me about how it was going to school back then.

KT: Those days? Well, there was very little discrimination. We were well accepted with the community, and schoolteachers and all, and we had some real nice Caucasian friends. But those people, those days, they were Italians, they were Germans, they were Swedish, you know. That's the way they used to tell me, says, "We're Germans." So the land that we were farming was owned by Germans. So after the war, why, they're all gone. So the place where we have now, my sister is there, and we still have that. So that's in the estate.

AC: So growing up on the farm, what did you do for fun?

KT: Well, those days, not too much, but we did have some local activity. Not a lot, because we were in the country. So we were, most of us Japanese were working out on the farm. And very little access to that type of... today. Things are so much different, that just... and we were happy at that.

AC: What did you do?

KT: What did we do? Well, in the wintertime it was more or less little activity, but most of the time, why, we attended local activities. And when we'd come out here, it was the same way. All we had was mostly your own friends that you met when you get together.

AC: What did you do when you got together with your friends?

KT: Well, they had the local dances... very little, very little. But we never felt anything, we didn't miss anything. It's just something that, but you think of it today, it's a wonder what we did do to ourselves. It sounds kind of primitive, but that's the way it was.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 3>

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.

<Begin Segment 4>

AC: Where were you when Pearl Harbor was bombed?

KT: I was on this farm, and we stayed there until we really had to evacuate to an internment camp at, what do you call that, Multnomah... the Oregon, Portland Livestock Expo building, where we went.

AC: Where were you when you heard the news?

KT: Well, I happened to go to Los Angeles, and on my way home on the train I got glimpse of that, "War on." I came home, I went down there to a lady that had a flower, and so she said, "Come on down that way and look it over." And that's when the war broke out, and I was on the train, but nothing was, it was kind of calm, but the war was on. I'm Japanese, see, but I came home on that, right at December the 7th, on the train, and that was right in the wintertime. And so when that happened, well, then, everything died off.

AC: What were your feelings at the time when you heard the news?

KT: Well, really didn't know too much about what... you know, the older generation might have thought a little heavier, but at that time, at that age, you really don't take it serious. Today, a ten or fifteen year old kid is about like when I was maybe twenty years old. You can't compare. So I really didn't think too much. Then as we came home, then there was exclusion, you know, you can't go out, this and that. Well, that really did everything, it just depressed.

AC: How did you, did it make you feel depressed?

KT: Well, yeah, well, you couldn't go nowhere, there was nothing... but my neighbors were very good, very fortunate to have good neighbors. And that happened to be one of the things that helped me, 'cause they had all the equipment, my neighbors took care of it, and some of the neighbors wouldn't take Japanese because, oh, you got Japanese, you would kind of favor 'em. So they were kind of... it isn't that they were scared of, 'cause you were kind of defending the Japanese, see, so there was people like that. It was quite tough right after war. But fortunately, my neighbor was very good, and took care of the tractors, so when I started, I brought the equipment over here to farm, and that helped a lot, 'cause there was no equipment to buy. Then I had good friends and businesspeople, landlords over there that... one of 'em was very good, he was a German. And he told me, he said, "I was in the First World War, he said, "I was shooting at my brother." Because he had a brother in Germany. And this is the same thing with the Japanese, I'm sure of that. You're shooting at your own brother, the relatives are all there. It's kind of sad, when I heard that, oh, gosh, then here this happened to us Japanese. So one of those things that we'll never forget, it's just the history that we will have to talk about. But that's the way it was, the First World War was just like, all right, my attorney over there said, "This is ridiculous. You're gonna sue the government for doing this." I had leased the place out, you know, and then I had a good neighbor to take over the farm, so that's how I kept it going. So we still have that real estate over there, and my sister, so I'm the executive heir of that, so I said, "No, I'm too old," so my son, he's taking care of it. So I said, "Let's split that all five ways." It was mine to start with, but it's okay. And I have a Japanese attorney that's taking care of that. But that's the way it was, and we still have some property over there, so it'll be in the heirs.

AC: How long did you know, when you received your notice to evacuate, how many days did you have to pack up?

KT: Well, this evacuation took in December, and the war opened right away then. And so when we moved from December, it was the next May. We had our crops growing already when we left for the "assembly center" there in Portland. It was around about between the fifth, eighth or tenth of May. And the Gresham people, they all had to go, I was out towards Milwaukie, Clackamas, you've heard of... so we all had to go. Not at one time, but there was a different area. So that's... and then the fellow that took over the place knowing that we had to go, why, he did a very good job. He's a Caucasian, and they were just a man and wife, they were neighbors, and they were, they had kind of a livestock and farm and they took over, 'cause they know about farming. So took them over to the market and had some training before we left, so they did a good job. But we left everything for them. Crops were growing and the money was all there, so there was no more income to us. But we did have the landlord that had, we were buying the property, so he was very good. He was a greenhouse man, he was an Englishman, and very wealthy, and he's the one that built those greenhouse down in the Willamette Valley, Thompson, that's the name, they're all gone now. And they built our greenhouse, and greenhouses is all gone now. It's out on my farm now over there. But they're all gone. We were lucky that he was very honest about it and took care of everything. So he also said, "This is ridiculous."

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<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.

<Begin Segment 6>

AC: How was it when you moved to Minidoka?

KT: Well, that was, everything was gone. There was no future, said, "What am I gonna do?" That was my thinking, 'cause I'm only, I was in the twenties, you know, twenty-two, -three, -four year old then. And god, you got to start, and here you got nothing. I had a suitcase come out here.

AC: Can you describe what it was like to live in Minidoka?

KT: And no money. Nobody had any money those days. Pardon?

AC: How was it like to live in Minidoka?

KT: Oh, I went back in the winter. In the summer we would come out to work around this area, so that's how I got acquainted, and I enjoyed the people working for. They were very, very, they were very helpful. All the ones I worked for were real good people. They're just, it seemed that I had no problem of getting into. My lawyer was very good, I had a lawyer here, took care of my legal work, and he was a Basque, you know, he was very, very good. So I had no problem there. And so I had a very good relationship here in Ontario all the way through. Only thing that I do, if I get a ticket, well then I have to pay the ticket. [Laughs] That's the thing. But other than that, it was all right.

AC: Do you remember, was there a garden or any kind of vegetables growing in Minidoka?

KT: Well, yeah. All these... not all of 'em, but this camp that we were in Minidoka, they had quite a garden. My dad worked in the garden, see, lot of the Japanese, raising the vegetables there like Tule Lake, they did a lot of that, too, you have to talk to anyone. And they raised a lot of stuff, so they shipped to other camps. There was ten camps.

AC: Was there also a Japanese garden in Minidoka?

KT: Well, they were, they raised daikon, the Japanese, all that Japanese... you mean flower garden?

AC: Flower garden.

KT: Gosh, I don't remember that. Because in the spring, we'd all go out to, stay out here all summer, and then in the fall, the sugar beet was one of the last crops, so gosh, that's in October, work in the snow, pick popcorn out there with horses, cobs, in the snow, this is over around Nampa district. So we stayed 'til the season closed, then went back to camp. And then a couple, three months, you'd come back out again in the early spring.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 7>

AC: Tell me how you met your wife.

KT: Oh, I met her in "assembly center." When the Yakima people had to move into Ontario, and that's where I met her, and that's how we ended up, so I got married before the camp closed, went back to, she was in Heart Mountain. There were several camps. But they were in an "assembly center" in Portland at the same time we were.

AC: And you kept in contact the whole time?

KT: Oh, kind of in and out, yeah.

AC: So how did you see her if she was in Heart Mountain?

KT: Huh?

AC: How did you see her if she was in Heart Mountain?

KT: Well, I went up there and we got married, so we come back out here.

AC: So you just, you met in the "assembly center"? Did you see each other before you got married?

KT: Oh, yeah, we knew each other real well before they left, so we were in "assembly center," for several, a couple, three, several months. That's how I got to know her. A lot of marriages were probably that way. I happened to be one of them. [Laughs]

AC: Tell me about your wedding.

KT: Well, there wasn't too much of a wedding. We got married, and then I got the ring in... what's that town there? Out in Billings, Montana, that's what it was.

AC: How did you afford a ring?

KT: Well, I didn't get much of a ring. [Laughs] But it was good enough to get married on. What a ring.

AC: So did you have a Japanese ceremony?

KT: No, there was just the two of us went off and she told her dad, "Dad, I'm gonna get married," that's it. I want to get my wife over here. [Laughs]

AC: What did her dad have to say?

KT: No, nothing was said. My folks never said nothing. Told my folks when I came back to camp, I said, "I'm married." So they were happy about it, and my dad was happy about it.

AC: What about her parents?

KT: Well, she had just the father, her mother was gone quite some time ago. So her father didn't say nothing. Yeah, I knew her father. We knew each other pretty well before.

AC: So how was it being newlyweds in the camp?

KT: Well, we moved out of the camp and came out here, 'cause I was farming here. So we lived in a house out here, that building was kind of, it wasn't farmhouse, wasn't much of a building. Bath tubs were outside, and laundry and everything is just hand laundry, clothesline type, you know, stick it outside in the cold weather, why, things would freeze, so we had to hang it up in the house to keep it dry to dry out. Those are the things that we had to go through. It was quite primitive. Like we see in the old covered wagon days, you wonder how they did it. It's similar to that; we accepted it. And so that's the way life went. Yes?

AC: Tell me about your brother. Did he get drafted into the army?

KT: Yeah, he was drafted, and he was overseas. And then when he got, they were about ready to go to the front line, then he said just as they were getting ready to go to the front line, the war ended, so he didn't really get right into the active part. But he was more or less a cook, he told me, and so when he came back, he was single, and so I said, "Well, get started," and he helped me on the farm. So then I said, well, let's get going, and formed a partnership. Then, of course, I had a farm here, I started a corporation because I checked with quite a few people here, and that was a tax thing. Then my accountant was a Japanese, he came in later after quite a few years. And he still is our accountant, they moved over to San Jose, California, so he's been with me for fifty years. So it's been quite a while.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 8>

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.

<Begin Segment 9>

AC: Tell me about your emperor award.

KT: Emperor award? Well, that goes back, they do a lot of what they call... well, they want to know different things about your activities, what you have done for the Japanese, the relationship between Japan and us. Like we had a 4-H student here many, many years ago, and then I worked with the different organizations, Japanese chairman of the onion growers, president of the onion growers, as you see up here on the wall, I worked with the universities. So that's, those are the things that the emperor of Japan wants to know the relationship. What I have contributed in the United States to promote Japanese, whether you want integrity or whatever you want to call it. And so that's the way they give awards. And so this is, I've had the fifth rank, and I want to show you the picture before you go of that award. So then when I got that, that's how I happened to... Senator Hatfield thanked me for my achievement award, as well as many of the other organizations. And I was pretty busy. I don't know how I did it. But when you're young, you don't notice it. Every night I was out at a meeting, especially in the wintertime. So when my daughters, they went to Japan, too, so they know everything about Japan, too.

AC: Some of the other farmers in the area have claimed that you are the more successful farmer in this entire area. What is the secret of your success?

KT: Oh, I don't think I'm any better farmer than anybody else, but anyway... well, you mean... what was that question again?

AC: People say that you are the most successful farmer in the whole area.

KT: Oh, you're not just making it up? [Laughs]

AC: I'm not making it up, this is what people are telling me. And I wanted you to know that, and I just wanted to say --

KT: Well, I don't know, they all worked hard. But like I said, in a lifetime, to myself, thinking I have to have some luck. You know, there are a lot of honest people, there are a lot of people that are faithful about this, they're just kind people from heart now, not just talk, and they have unlucky, and one luck after another luck. My neighbor just got run over just like that. You heard about the accident, George tell you? Anyway, we had one, there's my neighbor there, just buried him... not buried, but cremated. And she's in the hospital, I just talked to her today. Those things happen. But anyway, I think I had some pretty good luck, and very fortunate. And then I had good health all the way through. I did have open heart surgery, but my wife, I have to give her credit, 'cause she said, "You can't eat that."

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.

<Begin Segment 10>

AC: So looking back over your entire life experience --

KT: Pardon?

AC: Looking back over your entire life, what lessons have you learned about living in America?

KT: What I learned? Well, what I learned is just what we just talked about, pretty much.

AC: Have you reached any conclusions?

KT: Well, I would say there's no other country better than this country. I'm proud of it, to be the citizen of the United States, and I enjoyed my whole life as a citizen of the United States, my descendants were Japanese, that's fine, too. That's the way I feel about it.

AC: If your father were standing right here, he's listened to our entire conversation and he's heard about your success, your children, your grandchildren, what do you think he'd say?

KT: Oh, boy. Well, anyway, he used to come out here a lot, and he seemed to really enjoy it. And then he went back and told them that I was doing a great job of farming as well as many of the people that used to come hunting, they were Caucasian. And during hunting season, they'd go back and tell their businesspeople, the bankers and all, so I was known pretty well from the bankers' standpoint. And not only that, they put me up on a hell of a high credit rating. Even Dun & Bradstreet called me. You don't get on that, there's no more Dun & Bradstreet now, they used to use it. Not very many got on there. Not only that, if you don't have a good credit rating, you better not be on there. But when I was doing that, I didn't know that I had that kind of a credit. For some reason, they gave me that credit, so I was real proud of myself. I didn't tell every guy all the secrets, except the television man, he's getting every damn bit of it. [Laughs]

AC: What would your father say, though, if he were here?

KT: Huh?

AC: What would your father say if he were here?

KT: Oh, gosh, I don't know what he'd say. He'd probably be proud of it, he always was. He always enjoyed... he's a good farmer, so he always enjoyed the crops that were growing here. And this area was a very, probably one of the best growing areas in the country. 'Cause this agriculture, what the Japanese did was great. Not only me, but everybody. They were good farmers, they worked, most of them were real trustworthy, and most of the hakujins, they trusted us Japanese, so that was a great credit, not only me, but to everybody. And they all done well; they all raised their families, they all went to college, most of 'em. We got some real smart people, we've got engineers, we've got all kinds of kids, professionals. And the Japanese, they work at it. And not only this area, but I think throughout the country. They have quite a bit of pride in themselves. They're not just a bunch of braggers or anything, but I think there's something about Japanese. I'm proud of myself, but I'm over the hump now. [Laughs] So it's kind of embarrassing to be talking to you.

AC: Why?

KT: I don't know.

AC: We've talked about --

KT: Well, I don't hear, I don't see, and it's kind of a joke there, but I see the television fellow here.

AC: We've talked about all kinds of things.

KT: Yeah, I know we did.

AC: And is there anything that you want to talk about that we haven't talked about?

KT: Oh, I guess this is about it. I enjoyed visiting with you, and I wished I could have done a little better, but anyway, this is good.

AC: One last question. Again, looking back over your entire life, all your experiences, everything that's happened to you, what kind of advice would you give to your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren?

KT: Well, I don't know. I tell 'em that you got to work, you got to be honest, you got to learn, you got to listen and try to be something of yourself, try to acquire something or get something that you can be proud of yourself. You got to do it yourself; you can't just learn, you got to work at it. So we have four grandchildren here, they're all college graduates, and they're all doing pretty good. So my wife and I are real happy about the grandchildren. They all grew up here on the farm, they're all married and had nice families, married to nice families. One of 'em is married to Kameshige and it's fine, they're doing real good, and they're a real nice family. We're like neighbors, he was right down the line. So that's the way it's been going, and hopefully they all continue to be the same and trust each other and work together, and be very much compatible all the way around. That's about, Mister.

AC: Thank you so very much for taking the time to talk to us.

KT: Well, I hope I could have done a little better, but anyway...

AC: You did fine. Thank you so very much.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2004 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.