<Begin Segment 2>

LL: And so do you remember, or did you know what kind of farming, what kind of farm they had?

MI: I would say rice farming, but I'm not really sure if that was entirely rice farming, whether they had branched out into other... well, I may be mistaken, because when we went to visit them, they were into melons, so I don't know how long that had been going on.

LL: Interesting. And did your father have siblings?

MI: Yes, he did, and I can't tell you... yes, he had siblings, but I can't tell you who they were. I don't remember.

LL: And do you know, was he the oldest or youngest?

MI: That's another thing I don't know.

LL: And so describe how your father's family came to America.

MI: Well, as far as I remember, my father came first, got a job on the railroad, and he tried to earn enough money so that he could go get my mother, or else call for her. And that's the extent of what I know about their relationship, because she wasn't a "picture bride," per se, it was just... but they knew each other before they were married.

LL: So they knew each other back in Japan.

MI: Back in Japan, yes.

LL: We'll touch on that in just a little bit. Getting back to your father, you mentioned that he was working on the railroad. Where was that, do you know?

MI: In the state of Washington, and I remember it because the bad back that he inherited from that work plagued him all this life. That's the only thing I remember. He never was particularly unhappy about it, but it was a very major feature in his life.

LL: It affected him for a lifetime.

MI: Yeah.

LL: So do you know about when that was that he came to, immigrated?

MI: I'm not sure if 1916 is a reasonable date or not, because I have nothing to relate it to right now.

LL: And what was his reason for leaving Japan and coming to America?

MI: Oh, he wanted to make money and have a little better lifestyle than the farm that he had over there.

LL: And do you remember what then brought him to, after working in Washington, how he came to be in Portland?

MI: Well, it was in stages. I remember him mentioning that he bought a hotel in the Dalles, and so he bought that, and my mother was over here by that time. And they both ran the place by themselves, but I don't know how he did all that not knowing English. It still confuses me because I find it hard to deal in business things if I'm not familiar with the language. And yet, my dad was able to do that. I'm just always amazed.

LL: That is amazing.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.