<Begin Segment 8>

MK: Did you grow shiitake mushrooms?

RM: Yes?

MK: Shiitake mushrooms.

RM: I don't know. I didn't know anyone growing them. People went to mountains and picked them up, I guess.

MK: How about matsutake mushrooms?

RM: Yes, yes. We picked those in the mountains.

MK: Do you remember seeing foxes and bears in the mountains?

RM: No, I don't. I don't know, but people used to say a fox would trick you when you walk on a trail in the mountains. I don't know though.

MK: Do you remember seeing snakes?

RM: Oh, yes. There were snakes.

MK: Poisonous snakes too?

RM: I guess. I was afraid of them. They were everywhere. A lot of them, and I'm afraid of them. Yes.

MK: Did you see them in the house too?

RM: No, no. Old houses had a storage shed, and that is where we saw them turning white.

MK: White?

RM: Yes. I don't know. We had a lot of snakes and a lot of caterpillars. Yes.

MK: How about rabbits?

RM: Huh?

MK: Rabbits.

RM: Oh, they were free. We had them as pets. Everyone was required to have rabbits as the war was starting when I went to Japan. They said they were making rabbit fur gloves for the soldiers. Everybody was complaining as they had to clear some ridge in the field. They were complaining because they had to weed even though they got free rabbits.

MK: How about cats and dogs?

RM: Yes, yes. We had those. Poor animals. Our cats were fed rice with dried, grilled and shredded sardines. That's what they had to eat. Those cats got smarter and stole fish if they saw any sitting around. They hunted a lot of mice. They didn't have anything good to eat. We had a lot of mice in the countryside. That's why all the families had pet cats. Only a few special dog lovers had pet dogs. Not a lot of people had dogs. We heard that some dogs were fed with candies and we felt quit envious. [Laughs] That's how it was when I was a child. We didn't get a lot of candy. We had plenty of fruit instead. They are very good for children. We didn't get a lot of candy, and we were so envious that some dogs got to eat them. That's what it was when I was a young child.

MK: Did you grow wheat?

RM: Huh?

MK: Wheat?

RM: Yes. We grew wheat in the family field. When I was bigger, if the government had a plan to build a new warship, they recorded the number of the children in each household and told us how much we owed the government. They ordered us not to eat rice. They told us to eat wheat instead and inspected our lunch box to check if we were following the order. Elders were saying they could not eat wheat even when they were ordered. The government told us they needed a lot of money to build a warship. Everyone was following the order.

MK: Wheat. Do you remember eating bread made with wheat flour?

RM: Let's see. Bread came later, in our area. I was living in a dormitory to take some classes, and they used to serve bread for dinner every Saturday. Nothing else. No butter. [Laughs] We were pretty excited about having bread though.

MK: Because you didn't have it often.

RM: Yes, yes. That's why. We also had an paste buns, buns with sweet red bean paste inside. Elders were saying that big buns could be disappointing with just a bit of red bean paste inside if you were expecting a generous portion.

MK: Did you make your own bean paste?

RM: Yes, yes. We grew red beans too. We bought beans to make miso paste though.

MK: You didn't grow soy beans?

RM: I'm not sure. We used to roast them in a pan, sprinkle them with a bit of sugar and gave them to kids. They were very sweet. What are those green beans you would see at the beginning of the spring?

MK: Green soy beans.

RM: We harvested and boiled them to feed to the children.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.