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VO: As you look at the Japanese American community in Portland, do you have some thoughts about how it's changed or knowing it back from the old days before the war?

YM: I think the community is not as tight-knit as they were back when, because there was less participation of the Japanese Americans with the rest of the community, with people like yourself and Marlene and Lynn, stay active, so we'll keep the spirit alive, anyway. But it also gave me a chance to, besides the Japanese community, I've been volunteering at Richmond school, which is a Japanese immersion program. And I left the Ikoi no Kai program and I volunteer at the Meals on Wheels program now, which was the Loaves and Fishes, meeting other people, mostly Caucasian, and it's a lot of fun.

VO: Do you think... are there ways that you feel that the experiences you had in bridging the immigrant generation to today have influenced how you've lived your life?

YM: I can't answer that.

VO: Do you see the ways in which your life is quite different from your father's or the same?

YM: No, I think my life is a little different than his. I got a chance to live more in the greater community, being able to go to school, college, and then also doing my two years in the army. So it's looked quite different, but it's good.

VO: Do you have a feeling that your father was happy with his choice to come back to Oregon?

YM: I think so, after a while. It was very rough for both of my parents when they first came back, because they put in a lot of hours trying to make the store go, and I'm glad that we got, we were able to get it going after a while. Took a few years, but it was okay. Made a living for ourselves.

VO: Well, that money that was confiscated in 1941, then your family got it back in...

YM: '56. And since my, it was a partnership, and my uncle went back to Japan during the war, half of it was not returned to the family. They government kept that. And I don't think my uncle's family got any of it either. I don't know if they petitioned for it or not, but it was gone. And there was no interest paid on it.

VO: Do you remember when the money arrived? Do you remember your parents' reaction?

YM: yeah, my dad was very happy. He went out and bought some stock. [Laughs] I think he bought AT&T and he used to have Chase Manhattan Bank stock, and I think he bought some more of that and PGE stock. He was real happy.

VO: Let's see, are there other things that...

Off camera: What about the kids? Were they involved in the store?

YM: Can you say that again, please?

Off camera: Your kids, your children.

YM: Oh, my boys, I have two sons. They're, one is, my older son is working for, he used to be, I say "drug dealer," but he used to work for a pharmaceutical firm, and he used to sell medicine to doctors. But last year he changed jobs and he's working for a company that's owned by a Japanese firm called Kaijirushi, and here in Oregon, their company owns Kershaw Knives, and he's in charge right now of the brand name Shun. It's a culinary knife, very expensive. And my other younger son, he's a policeman. He's been with Multnomah County detectives, I mean, county sheriffs for twenty years now. And he's a lieutenant now.

VO: So neither of them was interested in the business, the family business?

YM: No. And both of them didn't marry Japanese girls, but they're happy, so that's fine. And they're doing all right, they have a job. And they both went to Oregon, too.

VO: That's good. Are there other things, is there any other thing that you can think of you wanted to tell us about?

YM: Let's see. One thing about my dad, he was very bitter about the war. And when the citizenship thing came up, he refused to get his citizenship. He said, "Anybody that's going to put me in jail for doing nothing," he said, "they could deport me, but I'm not going to get my citizenship." And when the redress money came, he was going to refuse that, too, but we had to talk him into it.

VO: So your father never became a citizen?

YM: He never became a citizen, nor my mother. He just refused to get his citizenship.

VO: Did most of his friends become citizens?

YM: I think so.

VO: Do you ever remember any discussion about that?

YM: No, they just told me that one time and that was it. Made up his mind, and didn't change.

Off camera: Did you share your experience of incarceration, your experience during World War II, with your sons? Do you ever talk to them about it?

YM: Oh, yeah, I've talked to them. They know pretty much what happened during the war. I don't think my grandkids are that interested in it, but I know my niece's kids were very interested in it, and they used to interview me all the time. But my current grandkids, they're not that interested. I don't think they had any school projects. One time, my granddaughter's history teacher wanted to have me talk, but my schedule was conflict, so I couldn't do it.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright (c) 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.