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LT: So how did she find out about your father, T.S. Akiyama? How did they make the arrangements that your mother would marry your father?

SA: I really don't know how they arranged it. But like Mom said, the picture was much better than the actual flesh. [Laughs]

LT: I think there were maybe "picture brides" who said the same thing when they came across. So you brought us to the United States, and your mother and your father met in Seattle for the first time. Can you tell what you know about where they met and how they met, those circumstances?

SA: Well, I think Mom was, one of my cousins from Portland was with her, I mean, met her. And he told her, "Now you have to just throw everything away that's Japanese, because you're in America now. We'll have to go get some Western clothes."

LT: So how did she feel about that?

SA: How did she feel about it? She was kind of sad, but she said, "That's the way it is, so be it." That's the way they thought. I mean, they didn't have any opposition to somebody telling them what to do. They'd been in America for a while.

LT: So when she came to the United States, was she wearing Japanese clothes?

SA: Yeah, I think so. I think she had kimono, you know.

LT: Then when she got married and when she continued to live in the United States, then, she was wearing American clothes.

SA: Western clothes, yes.

LT: Okay, well, thank you. Where did they go from Seattle?

SA: I think they went to Portland, stayed in Portland for a while with my cousin, Dad's cousin, I mean, and then they came to Hood River.

LT: And what did they do in Hood River and where did they live?

SA: Well, they lived in the same house. It's still there, you know, people living in it. But I don't know what they did exactly in Hood River except work on the orchards.

LT: Well, let's go back to your mother's first look at Hood River, coming --

SA: I really don't know. I never talked much about that with Mom.

LT: Okay. So let's talk about what you know about her early life in Hood River. Your father was a farmer.

SA: Yeah. Of course, she was a helper, you know, did everything my dad did almost, except maybe less hours. But I remember her saying, coming home before lunch, and had to chop wood to start the fire in the stove, cook up something. That was a tough decision, find something to eat. She used to mention that.

LT: And so what kinds of meals did she prepare, do you know?

SA: Huh?

LT: What kinds of meals did she prepare, do you know?

SA: Oh, when we had something growing in the garden, that was what we had. Whatever it was, nappa, Chinese lettuce, or strawberries. We had chicken, eggs. One thing Grandma mentioned after the war, when we came back, and she used to prepare chicken, you know, all packaged already. She said at home, before the war, Grandpa used to catch a chicken and chop the head off, then Grandma used to prepare it, defeather it and whatever. But she told us when she was preparing it, she never ate the chicken, she said. We didn't know that. [Laughs]

LT: As a kid you didn't notice that.

[Interruption]

LT: So your mother went to sewing school and learned handcrafts when she was in Japan. When she came to the United States, she was working outside. That must have been a tough challenge for her.

SA: Oh, it probably was. But I think in those days, womenfolks did what they were they were told. I don't think they rebelled much. I don't think there ever was any divorce cases at all. Could have been, I haven't heard.

LT: Are there other examples that you can think of about how difficult life was for your mother?

SA: Well, one thing, she didn't know how to cook. She said she didn't know how to cook rice. So she... my uncle's wife taught her everything. That's interesting, 'cause she probably spent more time sewing than cooking back in Japan.

LT: So her day was spent cooking and working outside.

SA: Oh, yeah.

LT: And then eventually caring for the family. What kind of outside work did she do?

SA: Well, there was lots... asparagus, cutting asparagus, weeding asparagus, you know. And she used to thin and help Dad prune.

LT: The apples and pears?

SA: Huh?

LT: Thin and prune the apples and pears?

SA: Yeah. And during the harvest season, you know, in the old days, they didn't deliver the fruit to one big packing house where they did all the packing, sorting, and so forth. Every orchard, the farmer had their own warehouse, small packing house, called it, and they used to hire like maybe fifteen ladies to sort, and they had ten packers, you know, where the graded sized apples fell in the bin and the people packed them. So there was a lot to do for mother or sister or whatever. It didn't make much difference what sex did what, you just did what needed to be done.

LT: They just did it, didn't they? That's amazing. How many acres of farmland did your father and your mother have?

SA: Oh, not many. I think about forty.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.