<Begin Segment 9>

AC: Can you describe what it was like living out here during the war years?

NH: Well, we just were cautious. We would hear from others, places where they were a little bit hostile toward the Japanese, so we were cautious to avoid patronizing those places. But as far as anything being extremely unpleasant, I don't recall.

AC: Well, how was... I know that they had ration books and everything, gasoline, sugar. Can you tell me a little bit more what it was like living like that?

NH: Well, you really didn't miss it, you know, to make that much of a difference. You knew you had to do without, so you lived accordingly. I just don't recall any real hardship at all.

AC: What kinds of things did you do without?

NH: Pardon?

AC: What kinds of things did you without?

NH: Well, gas, for one thing, I guess. And I think mainly the gas rationing, especially if you own your own farm, too.

AC: So how did you have to change the way that you lived?

NH: Well, just had to learn to cut down, you know, and live within those means, rationed means.

AC: What about, were there special collection drives or war bond drives, things like that? Do you remember any of those things?

NH: War bond, I believe. I do recall that. Other than that, I don't recall anything special. You know, that's a long time ago. [Laughs]

AC: Did they just come around and ask for donations or to buy war bonds? How did they solicit that?

NH: No, they didn't solicit door to door or anything like that. I think they just lifted up the individual responsibility. I really don't recall anything done specially.

AC: So out here in the farm, what kinds of things did you raise? Did you still continue to grow onions and potatoes during the war?

NH: Oh, yes, uh-huh. The same crops. Yeah, we used onion seed also, and it was mainly the crop of onions and potatoes, that was the major crop.

AC: Was the JACL organization very active during, out here in Ontario during that time?

NH: Yes, they were. And it's still active to this day.

AC: What kinds of things did they do during those years?

NH: The JACL, you mean? Well, just mainly the, what JACL meant to them, you know. And it's an organization among the Japanese American citizens to continue to... well, I don't know how to put it. Well, I guess mainly it's to continue to be good citizens, to show that they are, mainly.

AC: What kinds of things did they do? Did they have activities or something for the community, or how did they demonstrate that they were good citizens, or did they?

NH: Well, yes. For the community and for the, mainly for the Japanese Americans, their citizenship, mainly.

AC: In the farm, so everyone continued to work in the fields, the whole family worked in the fields that way during the war?

NH: You mean...

AC: Tending the crops?

NH: You mean after the war?

AC: No, during the war.

NH: During the war? Well, they mainly had other help that a lot of the Japanese evacuees that were in the camps came out to help out on the farms. And those people eventually were able to start farming themselves. But at first, there was quite a few of them, made a difference in the help, the neighbors in the fields, of the Japanese that came out, evacuees that came and worked in the camps.

AC: So did you have to find a place for them to live also on the farm?

NH: Yes. They had camps set up in different areas, and they had housing for them.

AC: How did they get from those camps to your farm?

NH: Maybe they were transported by the farmers.

AC: So in the cultivation of your farm, did you have horses, did you have tractors?

NH: Oh, it was tractors, mainly. No more horses. [Laughs]

AC: You didn't have to have any horses or anything like that to cultivate when you were in Banks or Hillsboro?

NH: Some of them did, uh-huh. They had tractors. We were one of the very few that had tractors. Because up until then, they mainly used horses. So we gradually worked up to tractors, made farming much easier.

AC: So when you were on Bainbridge Island...

NH: Oh, that was all horses.

AC: All horses. So you had horses tilling the field there. When you moved to Hillsboro...

NH: It was still horses there, too. So it wasn't tractor until we moved up to Banks, place called Banks.

AC: That's when you bought your farm, that's when you bought your tractor. You took that farming equipment with you to eastern Oregon?

NH: Yes, uh-huh.

AC: That must have been quite a journey driving a tractor across Oregon.

NH: Yes. Of course, I didn't go through all that because I was already living over here at that time. But my family did, though.

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