<Begin Segment 6>

LT: You talked a little bit about food, but let's talk more about the meals that you had at home. Did you have Japanese food or American food? What did you eat at home?

JH: In the morning we would have, my mom would have oatmeal, and I couldn't stand oatmeal, so I would have cream of wheat, which I liked. But for lunch and dinner it was all Japanese food.

LT: Can you talk about the Japanese food that you ate at home, even how it was prepared?

JH: It was usually like okazu where you'd mix some vegetables with a piece or pork or whatever, and that's about it. And then, of course, when the asparagus was in, she'd boil the asparagus, and we'd have boiled asparagus with miso on it.

LT: And then you'd put it on rice?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: Okay. And tsukemono, what is that?

JH: It's radish where they... I mean, daikon where they would salt it for a few days and they'd pack it in vinegar and sugar.

LT: The Japanese people?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: And you grew your own Japanese vegetables?

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: Was that in your garden?

JH: Garden, yes.

LT: And did you eat American food at home, too?

JH: You know, I don't remember ever eating American food. I'm sure we did. We had, in the morning we'd have toast and that type of food. But other than that, I think lunch and dinner was always Japanese food.

LT: So at home, you ate with chopsticks.

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: How did you learn to use a fork?

JH: I think it just... I really don't know. Of course, I think every time we had... we'd never gone out to a restaurant, so we never had the chance to use American utensils. It was always hashi, and that was it.

LT: Sure, sure. Well, New Year's was a big celebration. Can you talk about how your family and other Japanese families in the area celebrated New Year's?

JH: It seemed like my mother would cook for hours making okazu, and then chicken, and, of course, we'd have sashimi and sushi.

LT: And what are they?

JH: Pardon?

LT: What is sashimi?

JH: Raw fish. And she'd fix chicken with shoyu. And then we'd go to, there was two, just about three of these families that we'd kind of take turns and go around doing, you know, for New Year's Day.

LT: Okay. And so can you tell us what happened when you celebrated New Year's Day at your home? Who came?

JH: I think it was just a couple of families that we were very close to, my dad did things with them, and then we'd go over there a day or two later and have a meal with them.

LT: Okay, so the entire families joined each other then.

JH: Uh-huh.

LT: Okay, okay. Did you and other Japanese families in the area celebrate other Japanese events?

JH: I don't think we ever did. I don't recall doing it.

LT: So here you were growing up as the daughter of Issei who came from Japan, who spoke Japanese, who ate Japanese food at home. You're an American citizen. What was it like to almost have one foot in Japan and one foot in America and try to balance both Japanese and American culture?

JH: No, I guess I never gave it a thought. It just came to me. At home we would speak Japanese and then when we went out at school or amongst... when we played with these Japanese friends of ours, we would, we didn't speak Japanese, it was all English.

LT: So it sounds like you adapted to the situations.

JH: Yeah, we sure did.

LT: Okay.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.