<Begin Segment 3>

VO: And you went back to Japan as a child?

YM: Yes, in 1936 to 1938, my parents went back to Japan for a couple years.

VO: And what was the reason for that trip?

YM: I think it was for my parents to see my older brother and sister and maybe take care of some business over there, too. It's hard to imagine these days that you could leave your business for a couple of years' sabbatical and have your business still there after you come back.

VO: But he left it in good hands?

YM: Well, my uncle was in charge then, so I think it was in good hands.

VO: And this is actually your uncle but not your great uncle.

YM: No.

VO: So your original...

YM: Yeah, my aunt's husband.

VO: So it's a great uncle.

YM: He was in Japan already.

VO: He retired from the business and left it with your father? And do you have any memories of that trip to Japan?

YM: Well, I think that I went back to Japan on a boat with a fellow named Jess Toda and Al Abe, locally, and Jess and his sister, I think my parents went back with Jess's mother and sister. And I know that Jess and I, we really took over the ship according to him. [Laughs] We used to give the captain a bad time. But after we got to Yokohama, Jess and I, we got in trouble because at the inn we were staying at, he and I punched out all the shoji paper and my dad was very upset about that.

VO: And the trip back was...

YM: I don't recall too much about the trip back, but I know the trip back, coming back to Portland was very rough. It was in December, and we came back through the northern route, and the waves are so, the sea was so rough that they had to close all the portholes with the steel... well, covered the portholes up.

VO: The hatch covers?

YM: Hatch covers. And the ship was rocking and rolling so much that they had to, when they brought the food to the room, they had to put a wet towel on the table so the dishes wouldn't slide.

VO: Did you ever talk with your sister who was raised in Japan about that experience or what it was like to be in Japan while the rest of you were here?

YM: I think my sister pretty much was raised by my great uncle, because they had no kids or grandkids. So she lived at that house, which was just a couple houses away from where my brother was. But I know that she was telling me that her war years, they didn't, they hardly went to school because they were working in, she worked in a, I guess it was an airplane factory, making fuel tanks for the fighters. And she said that they hardly worked, went to school.

VO: And did she say much about that visit with your family coming back to visit her?

YM: No, she wasn't that broken up about it, but I heard that my brother was very sad when my parents decided to come back to Portland and they left them there. You know, you see the picture of a little boy chasing after a car and crying, and that's the picture that she portrayed to me.

VO: And he ended up staying without coming back.

YM: Right. And then the war broke out, so they couldn't come back over here. And my grandparents are getting old, so he just took over the farm.

VO: Is he still alive?

YM: No, he passed away a couple years ago.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright (c) 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.