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AC: This is an interview with Natsuko Hashitani.

NH: I just go by the name Natsu.

AC: Natsu.

NH: It's an abbreviation of my full name.

AC: Natsu Hashitani, a Nisei woman, eighty-eight years old. This interview is taking place in Ontario, Oregon, on December 5, 2004. The interviewer is Alton Chung of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center's Oral History Project 2004. Thank you so very much for agreeing to speak with us today. Let's just start off with something very simple. Where were you born and when were you born?

NH: Winslow, Washington, in 1916. It was May the 5th, 1916.

AC: And how many brothers and sisters did you have?

NH: There was eight of us all together, three sisters and four brothers, but there's only three of us remaining.

AC: And where were you in the family?

NH: I was the third child.

AC: What were the names of your brothers and sisters?

NH: My oldest brother is Manuel Wakatsugi, and then my, the second one is Chieko, and then I'm the third, and Kazue is the fourth, and Harumi is the fifth, and Mary is the fourth, and Aiki is the third, and Sam is the second... first, I mean the last, sorry.

AC: And when did your father immigrate to the United States?

NH: You know, I'm ashamed to say, but I really don't know. All I knew is that he came to Seattle, and then he was employed in the fishing industry in Alaska, and that's about all I know of his first coming to America.

AC: So what did he do for a living?

NH: Well, he just was a cook, and worked in the fish canneries, and then he eventually went into farming on Bainbridge Island.

AC: So what did he grow on your farm?

NH: Strawberries, mainly strawberries on Bainbridge Island.

AC: How large a farm did he have?

NH: Oh, I really don't know that, but I assume it was around fifteen, twenty acres.

AC: What about your mother? When did your mother come to the United States?

NH: That... I really don't know when she came either, but she came as a bride to marry my dad. So he was a total stranger, but that's the way they were coupled in those days among the Japanese.

AC: She was a "picture bride."

NH: Yes, yes. See, you know more about that than I do. [Laughs]

AC: So I guess how would you describe your father?

NH: Well, he was a hard-working man, but his health failed at a young age. I think he was in his thirties, so his life was quite a struggle after that, so my mother really carried the load.

AC: How did he get sick or what happened?

NH: Well, he had a disease of the eye. Whenever it was bad, it blinded him, and whenever he was able to see halfway is when he worked on the farm. But it was a struggle for him.

AC: So how did your mother carry the load?

NH: So my mother, she carried on with the farming, and then my older brother helped her a lot, too. So without his help, she couldn't have made it, because there were so many of us children. So we all had to help towards the family pot by working and helping on the farm, so we were more like child laborers, I guess.

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