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BH: How did your family celebrate Japanese holidays?

SF: That was... first of all, your meal was more elaborate. And I don't know whether... I mean, this is a no-no, but Mom used to make sake in a huge vat. And we would even, at our young age, would take a sip of sake, I could remember that, in the holidays. [Laughs]

BH: And did you get together with those other Japanese families?

SF: We... well, they're busy working. I was close friends with the people... well, Umemotos were next door, but my age friends were Kawatas, and I used to play around with the, their four girls, with the two younger ones. But we would have a Japanese community hall, and we would have Japanese movies. Summertime we would have this, we called him Fukuda-sensei, he came from Wapato, Washington, and he taught us Japanese fude writing, reading, sewing, the bunka, and he taught us odori, and he taught the guys judo. And he would come every summer.

BH: So unlike children in the Portland area who would go to Japanese school after school and on Saturdays, yours was in the summertime due to the availability of the teacher.

SF: Yes.

BH: How'd you feel about going to Japanese school?

SF: I felt that's the thing to do. We didn't question it.

BH: Tell us a little bit more about bunka.

SF: Oh, the bunka, the stitchery. He would bring in, it's a, like paint by numbers, and you have to have a board to hold this, and you just, your thread is your typical Japanese type of, like nylon type of thread, and you just poke up and down. And it takes time, but that kept us busy. It kept me busy.

BH: Is that something you and your siblings continued with after Japanese school?

SF: Yes, I did that, and I worked on it about three months to finish the picture. My other sisters didn't do anything like that because of, they were busy working, you know, and school work. I took it up later on when my sister started taking it again.

BH: Now, the boys learned judo. Was bunka just for the girls, or did the boys learn, too?

SF: No, the boys didn't think of doing bunka.

BH: And what about odori, the dancing? Was that just the girls?

SF: Dancing? Let's see. No, the guys didn't join in on the dancing. We used to have a little program, and I can remember my sis and I, we were nezumi, the little mouse, with their costume. We would do things like that, and it was fun.

BH: Where did you go to elementary school?

SF: Brooks, Oregon.

BH: And when you first went to school, what language did you speak?

SF: English, but broken. Because we, at home, all we talked is Japanese.

BH: And how far away was your school?

SF: We were about, roughly three miles. And I talked to my sis about that, and we would either ride our bicycles back and forth, or walk, or Mom had a license at that time, driver's license, and took us to school.

BH: That's unusual. Not very many Issei women learned how to drive.

SF: Well, I think she was forced to. [Laughs]

BH: And there were other Japanese Americans in your community and undoubtedly in your school. At lunchtime and recess time, did you socialize with just Japanese kids?

SF: No, not necessarily. We used to have some good friends that were pretty open. They accepted us like anyone else.

BH: And what about lunch? Did you take your lunch?

SF: We took our lunch. It's usually sandwich, it's more simpler than nigiri.

BH: Was your family involved in a local church or temple?

SF: Well, yes, they would have this, a different place, a hall, and a reverend would come, and that would be our church. And I don't know whether it was every Sunday or not, but I could remember going.

BH: And was that a Buddhist...

SF: Buddhist. That's all we knew around there, is Buddhist.

BH: You mentioned that you were the youngest growing up on the farm in Brooks, and your brothers and sisters had chores, but you didn't. What kinds of things did you look forward to as a kid?

SF: There wasn't... we just played around, tried to get not in the way of our folks. We would even pop some popcorn and go around selling it. [Laughs] We had to think of something to do, you know. We would get in some kind of mischief.

BH: How often did your family come into Portland?

SF: Not too often. I can remember that I fell and I sprained my ankle that one time, and... no, that wasn't the time. I had to see the dentist. My brother Mutt drove me to see Dr... is it Kayama, Koyama, in Portland. Maybe not too nice to say, but maybe that's why I don't like to go to the dentist. [Laughs]

BH: Did you take any family vacations?

SF: Yes. Went to, the community would go all together, and we would go to Netarts in Oregon. And I felt that it was about (two weeks) we were there, we had so much fun, but I talked to my sister about it and she says, "No, it's a little over a week." And folks did fishing and clamming, and we played in the sand dunes. It was a lot of fun.

BH: What did you learn from your parents about being Japanese?

SF: I don't know. Well, strictly we're Japanese, and I don't know whether you learn to be a Japanese, it's just you, the way you are.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.