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VO: But then, so then for your father, he joined the Teikoku store. What does Teikoku mean?

YM: "Imperial."

VO: And what was his role there?

YM: I think he was co-owner or manager with my other uncle.

VO: Well, describe the store a little, what kinds of things they sold, who they sold to.

YM: The store was a general merchandise store. Didn't have very much fresh vegetables or fish or meat. More in the line of canned goods, shoyu, rice, the staple Japanese food. They sold shirts, arrow shirts, Stetson hats, Florsheim shoes, and they had a liquor store, I think one of the few liquor stores outside of... Oregon liquor store. And they had radios and refrigerators later. They even sold Studebaker cars, and they acted like an agency for a bank in Yokohama to transfer money to Japan. They were an agency for hiring for the railroad, mostly SP&S, that's Seattle, Portland, Spokane. And they sold to the railroad employees, the Japanese railroad employees, and they also sold to logging camps and canneries. My dad used to tell me that he used to go to Astoria, Warrenton, Westport, Huntington, Baker City, and as far as Spokane.

VO: So this was, in addition to the store, which was located in Old Town.

YM: Yeah, Old Town, on Second and, Third and Davis Street.

VO: So in addition to the store in Old Town, did they have trucks that went out?

YM: They had trucks that delivered in the Portland area. Salesmen used to go out and take orders in the outskirts of Portland like in Gresham and Columbia Slough, Dallesport, Hood River. They used to take the order one week and then deliver the next week, and then that week take another order and come back. And they used to go to Vernonia, and Salem, Independence, Brooks.

VO: You had mentioned that by traveling out to these Japanese communities out at the coast or in camps, they really were a line of communication. You talked about bringing back...

YM: Oh, yeah, the days when they used to send money to Japan, my dad used to tell me that he used to bring gold, they used to pay him in gold, so he used to put 'em in his hat, and made sure his hat didn't blow off.

VO: And because they were agents of a bank, then he could...

YM: Right, and then they would come with that and then they'd wire transfer it to their account in Japan, to their families.

VO: And so what was your mother's role in the family?

YM: She was just a housekeeper, I mean, a housewife. And we used to be in the Merchant Hotel building. It was also called Teikoku Hotel at the Japanese community. And we had the fourth floor of that building, and they had a large kitchen that we served the family and employees, single employees or anybody else that wanted to eat that day, she and my aunt used to cook meals, lunch and dinner. So that's what they did.

VO: So what was it like for you growing up in the Merchant Hotel and with the store?

YM: Well, you know, as a child, you don't know anything else but your surroundings. So I guess it was just good times.

VO: Did you mostly play within the neighborhood streets of Old Town?

YM: Yeah. We used to play, we used to go down to the waterfront, which is, they used to load lumber out of the waterfront in those days. We used to play under the Burnside Bridge. We used to go up to the park blocks and then to the zoo at that time. And we used to go to Jantzen Beach by streetcar with the older kids, would take us over there and go swimming and then we'd pack, have lunch packed, and we'd always go in groups.

VO: Tell us a little about your brothers and sisters.

YM: I have, I had an older sister and an older brother. They were taken to Japan when they were one and two, and they were left with my grandparents, and they were raised by them. And they were, they never came back except my sister in 1955 after she got married in Japan and came back to Portland. My brother came back for my folks' fiftieth wedding anniversary, but that's the only time he came.

VO: Were they both, your brother, older brother and sister, American-born, American citizens?

YM: Yes, they're both American-born, both had American citizenship. Then I have a younger brother that's about seven years younger than I am, he was raised here in Portland.

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