<Begin Segment 2>

TI: And so how did your father and mother meet?

YS: I really don't know. They never did say.

TI: Did they come to Seattle together?

YS: I guess, I really don't know that.

TI: And then they went to Bainbridge Island?

YS: Yeah, then they went to Bainbridge Island. Quite a few of 'em. Because when we evacuated, there was probably two hundred-some people from Bainbridge Island.

TI: So your dad went from working in a restaurant in Seattle.

YS: Yeah, Seattle, he worked in a restaurant, I think, for a while.

TI: And then what did he do in Bainbridge Island?

YS: He farmed.

TI: And what kind of farming?

YS: Strawberry.

TI: Now, so, was that a big farm? I hear stories about the Suyematsu strawberry farm.

YS: Yeah, it's quite a deal. My brother, he did a lot for them, and he donated some around there, so the only farm and only. It was purchased by the city of Winslow, but he got an agreement with them that as long as he was alive, I guess, they have to farm it, or rent it out to somebody to farm it. That's what they were doing. But even right now, see, they're trying to make it a, what you call it? Place to remember and stuff. Because that old house we used to live in, people are living in there now, just the one that's staying there, working there, and they're living there now. It's quite a deal.

TI: So when you were born, how much property did...

YS: We had forty, they purchased forty acres.

TI: Forty acres. And then did they grow that larger or did it get bigger, or was that always forty acres?

YS: No, because we had to clear it from scratch, you know, with dynamite and everything. They had to clear it, you know, a little bit, acre at a time or whatever. Well, then on the island at that time, too, they got, they kind of got together and some of 'em worked together and helped each other.

TI: To, like, get the stumps out and things that?

YS: Yeah, yeah, and they kind of helped each other get started, I guess, is what their deal was. Because we used to have some younger Niseis help, too, couple of 'em. I guess that's the way they wanted to get started, I guess. And he was lucky, too, that when he went back, he got it back.

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