<Begin Segment 3>

BH: So let's talk about you and your childhood now. Where do you remember living as a kid?

DH: Well, I first remember, the first place that Dad had, it was dark, and water had to be hauled up from the creek down, way down the side of the hill, he brought two big barrels full, like wine barrels, of water, all the way up on the sled, and that's what was our drinking water and washing water. And he had ofuro made, and he had to use that, filled that up.

BH: So that was for bathing yourselves.

DH: Uh-huh, bathing and food.

BH: And this sled that had the big barrels on it, did he pull it by hand?

DH: No, it was all team of horses. In those days, it was all team. He went to market on the team of horses from Oswego all the way into Portland, early market. But later on, after the second farm we had up there, and he had a truck and a car and a Model T Ford.

BH: So where did he sell his produce?

DH: In Portland. They had that early market where all the farmers brought vegetables and everything, whatever they had. And the buyers from different stores and so on came and bought... and they had their... it was all on their own, they had to sell, or if they can't sell, then they had to bring it home. Dad did pretty well, he just sold his things right away. He managed well.

BH: Did you and your brothers ever go with him into the market and come to Portland?

DH: Well, yes. When we're, during the summer, we're lucky enough to get to go. He said, "You can come with me," because he wanted somebody to guard the truck at the market to, being stolen. So he asked me several times, so I got to go and sit in the truck, have breakfast with him. And so it was a real treat.

BH: Oh, going out to breakfast at a restaurant?

DH: Yes.

BH: Oh, do you remember where that was?

DH: It's on the east side, that market, next to that Italian restaurant. I can't remember what it... but it was a good time.

BH: Now, you were born with a Japanese name. How did you become "Dan"?

DH: Well, during the Depression, people came to stay with us because they couldn't stay in the town, and it's hard to have enough food. So they came to our place and they, during the Depression, they could have all the vegetables, food and so on. And so happened, during that early times, we called him Professor, he was a well-educated bachelor that stayed with us. And he gave us names. Says, "Everybody in America should have a hakujin name. So he started with Kaz, he'd call him Woodrow, for Woodrow Wilson. And Norman was Norman Rockwell, then Shig was the Starr, but he didn't like it, so he never used it. And my name was Dan, Daniel Webster, that's where he got Dan. [Laughs] And Victor was Victor Hugo. Sam was given the name at the hospital, Sam and Henry and Kay have hakujin and Nihonjin names.

BH: Now was this professor, was he hakujin or Caucasian or was he Japanese?

DH: No, he was a Japanese man from Japan. He looked like, he had the Hitler mustache, I can remember. We used to tease him about it.

BH: And so he worked on your dad's farm?

DH: Yeah, he worked on Dad's farm, and he ate with us. He must have been late twenties or something, thirties, around thirty. He just loved to stay with us, so he stayed with us for a few winters during the Depression time.

BH: When you were growing up, what were the typical meals at your house?

DH: Well, mostly... well, during the farm, Dad had pigs and so on, the meat came from that, and from the cow, steers he had. And next door they had a butcher, slaughterhouse, and Dad took it over there and had it slaughtered, and he had them pack all the meat and froze everything and made his own bacon, smoked his own bacon. And that's what we had during hard times. He said he all the fruit and root vegetables stored in the shed, I mean, the cellar. He had squashes and so on, that was our okazu Mom could make from the bacon, the meat. That was our survival during the hard time.

BH: So you ate mostly Japanese foods?

DH: Well, yes, mostly... well, Mom did a lot of baking and making pies and stuff like that for us.

BH: She had the fruit from the farm.

DH: I don't know how she figured out how to do it, but I remember it was really good, especially her pies.

BH: Did your family celebrate Japanese holidays?

DH: New Year's. Dad didn't do too much. He must have wanted to go back eventually because his whole family's lived over there.

BH: Did you visit other families or get together to make mochi at New Year's time?

DH: Well, we did our own, mostly.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.