<Begin Segment 5>

KN: Can you tell me about where your father would, you lived on the farm and had vegetables and fruits. What would you do with the vegetables and fruits?

EK: Well, there was a big wholesale market here in, I think it was on Morrison. Every morning the grocery store and they all came there and brought the stuff, and he'd get up at two o'clock in the morning and take the produce there, and he'd sell. That's the way we got rid of our, he got rid of that produce. And I sometimes used to go, get up at two o'clock in the morning and go with him, and the only reason I liked to go was he used to take us to breakfast, which we had. [Laughs]

KN: And where, what kind of breakfast was it? Was it American breakfast?

EK: Toast, eggs. [Laughs]

KN: And was it the same restaurant every time?

EK: No. Of course, 'cause at home, we just had, morning, my mom would have rice and miso soup. Once in a while we'd get boiled egg or something.

KN: What else do you remember about coming in to sell the vegetables? Were there a lot of other Japanese people?

EK: Japanese and a lot of Italian farmers and other... yeah.

KN: Did you or did your parents, when you were young, did you ever go back to Japan?

EK: Several times.

KN: When you were young?

EK: No, it was after I was married, and the first time I went was in 1969. All the girls were in school.

KN: And what about, what about your parents? Did they ever go back to Japan? Your parents, did they go back?

EK: No, they didn't get to. They didn't have a chance to go, because my father, I had a cousin that he sent to school in Tokyo, two cousins, and one was a doctor. He sent the money, so they never got a chance to go. He used all that money and sent it to Japan and helped his older brother.

KN: And so the money that he sent, was that from the farm or the money that he would make selling vegetables?

EK: Uh-huh.

KN: What other things do you remember growing up that were bought in the house? American things, Japanese things? Was there anything that your mother or your father really prided having, like a sewing machine?

EK: Oh, yeah, she had a sewing machine, she taught me how to sew, an old Singer machine. And, of course, she taught me how to crochet and knit. Of course, the Japanese language are the most important.

KN: And what about your father? Did he have any tools that...

EK: Oh, yes. He liked to do carpentry work, and so he made a lot of things for us.

KN: Can you, do you remember one of the things that he made, like what kinds of things?

EK: Well, I don't exactly remember, but I remember when we went to camp, he'd find these loose lumber that were thrown out. He made us desks and chairs, and he just loved to do carpentry work.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.