<Begin Segment 20>

TI: So let's talk about leaving Minidoka. Where did the family go after leaving Minidoka?

YS: See, they went back to Bainbridge, and I come out here.

TI: Oh, so the family first went back to...

YS: Well, my sister was married, I think, got married, and that's why I come out here. I didn't care for Seattle because of the wet weather.

TI: So you wanted a change.

YS: Yeah, I wanted a change.

TI: And so your sister got married and was living...

YS: She was out here, yeah.

TI: Like in Ontario?

YS: Around Vale. And so I come out here.

TI: And so what did you think you were going... now, did you finish high school in Bainbridge or here?

YS: No, Minidoka.

TI: Oh, Minidoka, so you finished.

YS: I finished there and then I come out.

TI: And what were you thinking you would do here over on Eastern Oregon?

YS: Well, I didn't know what...

TI: But you were going to live with your sister?

YS: Well, yeah, they were farming, so I didn't know. See, I stayed... well, we come out, '44 we come out toward the slope first, but then we were with a cousin, they were working for a cousin, and then they went back to Bainbridge.

TI: Going back to, when you returned to Bainbridge, I forgot to ask this question, what was the reception of people? Like did you see some of your old friends? And what did they say when they saw you?

YS: Well, I think it was pretty good. I wasn't back there that much, so I didn't... once in a while I'd see somebody, but then they were the ones that I didn't know how... this guy, he just said if you pay the interest in the thing, you can have the ground back. So he got it back, but he was lucky.

TI: Your father?

YS: Huh?

TI: You're talking about your father or who?

YS: No, my brother.

TI: Your brother. Oh, I see, okay.

YS: Because the Issei couldn't own the... I think it was bought, it was under my brother's name anyhow.

TI: So he just had to pay kind of the interest in terms of the loan?

YS: Interest on the property tax and stuff, and then they gave it back to him.

TI: And what was the shape of the property?

YS: Oh, it was bad, he said. It was bad; it was really run down.

TI: So there strawberries were all bad?

YS: Yeah, they had to really work at it to get it back in shape.

TI: And how about the house?

YS: Yeah, house, too, was bad, I guess.

TI: But at least they had the property to come back to.

YS: Yeah. So they went back, and I guess they never did say anything, so I guess it was all right.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.