<Begin Segment 15>

KN: What have you told your family about your wartime experiences?

EK: Never talked about it too much. I don't know how it is that we just didn't want to talk about it.

KN: Why didn't you... why wouldn't you want to talk about it?

EK: I don't know. It was just an experience that we had, we just want to forget it, I guess.

KN: How do you think that your experience has affected your sense of being Japanese?

EK: Well, I'm kind of glad to be a Japanese. I'm proud of it. [Laughs]

KN: Can you tell me a little bit more about why, what about it that makes you proud?

EK: Well, I don't know. Are you glad you're part Japanese?

KN: I sure am.

EK: Well, see?

KN: I sure am. How do you think the wartime experience affected your parents?

EK: Well, I don't know. For one thing, I know my dad didn't get back to Japan anytime, and I think that's one thing he really regretted. Of course, he sent all that money back to help his family.

KN: Did he continue to send money back after the war?

EK: [Shakes head].

KN: What did your parents do when they came back after the war?

EK: They were retired.

KN: And did they live with you?

EK: Well, part of the time, and he got a job, he liked to garden, so he got a job in Milwaukie at a greenhouse there and my mother and they commuted there for a while until he got sick.

KN: What about you? What did you do after you came back?

EK: What?

KN: What did you do?

EK: Well, I took care of the children. Of course, I helped on the farm, whatever I could do.

KN: What kind of farm did you have? What kind of fruits...

EK: Well, we raised strawberries and row crops.

KN: Lot of hard work.

EK: It's hard work, but then the four girls went to school.

KN: When you guys came back and had the farm, if you needed farm help before the war, your father had hired Japanese people to help on the farm. Were you able to hire Japanese people to help on the farm?

EK: A few, but then you know, there was a lot of good Filipino people (...). They helped us pick berries.

KN: You had mentioned earlier that people from the Midwest didn't know that you had been evacuated and gone to relocation camp. What do you say to people that don't know anything about camp?

EK: Well, I don't know, I can't say. They just... one young person said, "What kind of camp? Was it a girl's camp or a summer camp?" They never heard of a relocation camp.

KN: Did you talk to them about your experiences?

EK: Several times.

KN: What is it that you, when you have a conversation with them, what is it that you try to emphasize or that you want them to know?

EK: Well, they ask several questions, living conditions, how safe it was and all that. So I did a lot of... I know Kenny did, too.

KN: If something like this were to happen again, how would you hope your grandchildren would react to this?

EK: Well, I don't know.

KN: Can you share anything that you've shared with them about your experience?

EK: I have, especially, yeah, the grandkids. 'Cause I was there and their mother was there.

KN: What do you do today to celebrate your Japanese culture that maybe you did or you didn't do before the war?

EK: I don't do much living there. I love to go to Ikoi no Kai and gossip. [Laughs] I won't be able to go after the girls will be gone, but they'll be back, she'll be back in a couple of weeks, so I'll be seeing you there, or your mom.

KN: When you came back, did you feel, when you came back from the war, did you feel like it was okay to be Japanese?

EK: Uh-huh, I was proud to be a Japanese. [Laughs]

KN: And being able to celebrate and do Japanese things there, you didn't have any fear from the community?

EK: Uh-uh.

KN: I'm going to... we're almost done. There's just a couple of things that I want to go back and ask you a couple of questions about that I want to make sure, for the camera, that we get it on tape. When we were talking about, when you were young, and this is before the war, about celebrating Japanese events, and we were talking about the New Year's feast. Can you tell me a little bit more about the New Year's feast, like where was that held at?

EK: Well, I told you we had a little community where I lived. Our house happened to be big, so people would bring food and they'd play cards and then spend a couple of nights. So that's the way we celebrated New Year. And then you know when Girl's Day is in March, well, my mom would make -- you know what mochi is -- and then red rice, and then we'd give it around to the neighbor. And then there was Boy's Day in May, and that's about all I can remember celebrating Japanese.

KN: How did your neighbors react to getting Japanese foods from your family?

EK: Well, everybody brought something, so you just shared everything.

KN: When you were young, where did you buy, or where did your parents buy Japanese food?

EK: Mostly at the Japanese store in Japantown, and there was a man that used to come every Friday night, Japanese tofu and fish, and so Mom would buy stuff, age.

KN: And he would come all the way out to Fairview?

EK: Yeah, he'd come from the town. He had a little truck that had refrigeration, and he'd come around. He'd have tofu.

KN: Do you want to share anything else with us that you remember or you want to talk about?

EK: No, I think we covered most of the things. Maybe I might think of something, but that's about all. Thank you.

KN: No, thank you. It's been such a pleasure talking to you.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.