<Begin Segment 2>

LT: Do you know how your mother and your father decided to come to America?

MN: I don't know that either.

LT: Okay. But they left from Hiroshima and they came to O'Brien area?

MN: Uh-huh. There were lots of Japanese there from Hiroshima.

LT: So a number of Issei, the first generation, from the Hiroshima area came from that area and settled in the O'Brien area?

MN: Uh-huh.

LT: So your father had friends and family who lived in O'Brien?

MN: Yeah, friends. I think... no, my uncle came later. So very big.

LT: Okay, but something happened to your uncle when he came.

MN: Well, he stowed away in the boat, and so just before it landed, he jumped ship, he and another fellow. And they walked around until they heard somebody talking in Japanese. So they got up and come to find out they were on my dad's farm, dairy farm. So that's about it.

LT: So your uncle and your father, then, had a reunion in O'Brien simply by the sound of the Japanese language.

MN: Uh-huh.

LT: Okay. Well, your father worked in O'Brien. What kind of work did he do?

MN: Well, they had a dairy farm, I mean, dairy right next door. So actually I don't know exactly what he did.

LT: Okay. And your mother, what was her role?

MN: Housewife.

LT: And how many children?

MN: We had five at that time.

LT: Okay. And there were four boys and you. And you were in the middle?

MN: Uh-huh.

LT: Well, when you think about your father, the father of five of you, what was he like?

MN: I really don't know.

LT: Okay. What special skills did he have?

MN: I don't know that either. He did speak English, though.

LT: Do you know how he learned English?

MN: No.

LT: Okay. But his English-speaking skills did help him to get other jobs.

MN: Uh-huh. He worked for, he was a buyer, produce buyer for this produce place.

LT: And what was his responsibility there?

MN: Go out and buy produce, I guess, for the shed.

LT: Okay. So he worked with Issei farmers?

MN: Well, he probably had to go around to them.

LT: And then he communicated with the white produce buyers, then.

MN: Yeah, he worked for a hakujin.

LT: Okay. So his language skills helped him to be successful in helping the white produce companies make connections with the Japanese-speaking farmers.

MN: I think so.

LT: Okay, all right. What about your mother? What was her role, and what was she like?

MN: She took care of us kids, that's all I remember. She was my mom.

LT: You also had a strawberry farm.

MN: That was in Auburn.

LT: Okay, and what did she do there?

MN: She worked on the strawberry farm, took care of that.

LT: Do you remember what kinds of responsibilities she had on the farm?

MN: I really don't know what her responsibilities were.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.