<Begin Segment 4>

JK: When you were... we're gonna talk about your childhood now. How many brothers and sisters did you have?

MO: I had two brothers and a sister.

JK: And what were their names?

MO: My sister's name was Yoshiko. There was Hiromichi and Terumasa.

JK: And what was your order in the family?

MO: Two boys and then two girls later.

JK: Okay, and were you...

MO: I'm the low man on the totem pole.

JK: Okay, so you were the youngest in the family. Do you remember what your neighborhood looked like when you were little?

MO: It was very busy. It's in the middle of town, Portland.

JK: Okay, can you describe --

MO: On Taylor Street.

JK: Okay, this is the Hachi Hotel?

MO: Hachi Hotel.

JK: Were there other Japanese around you?

MO: Yes, a block away. (...)

JK: Okay. And were there any Japanese businesses around?

MO: Yes, grocery store, barber shop.

JK: Okay, do you remember the grocery stores, were they run by people you knew?

MO: Yes, uh-huh. It was not like a grocery store would be. There were open food stuff like that, like the short order type, excuse me. You know, not like a big store. What would they call it? Marketplace, they shipped in all the fresh fruit and just displayed it for the sidewalk sale.

JK: Okay, so made it easy for your family to get the food and things that they needed.

MO: Yes, very close to town.

JK: Where did you play? Did you have places to play in your neighborhood?

MO: Yeah, there's parks close by. Park blocks are just a couple blocks away.

JK: Were your friends mostly Japanese in the neighborhood?

MO: Uh-huh.

JK: Do you remember who some of them were?

MO: Yes, the Suzukis, the Haras, there was (Iwatas) and there were several hotel owners around the same area.

JK: What was it like living at the Hachi Hotel? Was the family living space small or big?

MO: No, it was large. It would be like a home. They had a kitchen, the two bedrooms. The bathroom was the only thing that was separate from that. It was like an apartment where we were, but it was a hotel. The rest is just a sleeping place.

JK: Okay, and what other memories do you have about being a kid growing up in South Portland?

MO: Crowded. No, it was convenient, really. Our friends were all around, just a stone's throw away from each other, so we grouped together to play down by the riverside.

JK: What did you do at the riverside?

MO: Played softball, anything, and there was always a playground by the river.

JK: Were you involved in any other activities with softball? Did you do other...

MO: No, I was too young then for that. Just playtime for me at the time.

JK: Okay, so you were just playing, running around the city. Your family life, what did the family, did the family do anything for fun together?

MO: Well, I can only think of picnics that we did in summertime. The boys always had their things, and my sister and I did our thing.

JK: Well, what are things that you and your sister did?

MO: Well, she was older than I was, much older, so I had to tag along, which she didn't like, but I tagged along.

JK: And where did she take you?

MO: To her friends' place, and they would play house or play school, things like that. And I was always the bad person, schoolmate. I had to do the running around, get food for them.

JK: Okay, so they, you were the...

MO: Run-around.

JK: The gopher for them.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.