<Begin Segment 3>

SG: Can you tell me how your father passed away, what he died from?

JO: Well, of course, I was just a kid when I was thirteen, so I guess those early days when my mother make homemade liquor, you know, osake wine, already he's in the kitchen drinking before the sediment goes down, and I think that's one of the reason, I guess he got cancer in the stomach. And I remember my mom had, we'd go to hospital by streetcar because we didn't have a... we did have a car, but it was one of those Model T car and Model T, what it is Model T Ford, has the three pedals, and that's what we had. And that's when he passed away was in Gresham, had a lot of friends come over. They all decided to help us out because he kind of left a lot of debt. He goes to market, and he would maybe gamble and drink or something. But I remember he, the parents work hard, and that's all they did. They come home from work and just like us Nisei practically had to do the same thing. So after that, my mother was by herself. And my brother George, we kind of worked together in Gresham, you know.

SG: What was your relationship like with your father?

JO: Relation with who?

SG: With your father? How was your relationship with your father?

JO: My father?

SG: Yeah.

JO: My father and I got along fine. I remember one time go downtown Portland city, I want something, I put on the tantrum, he buys me stuff, and I remember that. They had a store there, Teikoku store and Furuya store, and I got along fine. In fact, I slept with my dad before he passed away, and my younger brother slept with my mother. That was right over here in Portland on 96th and Division. And there was an old house, and our bathtub was built right in the house, along the house, and we had to burn fire under the tub, homemade tub, with metal inside. And people would come from the highway, say, "Your house is on fire." No, it was our tub being heated from the bottom, so we could take a bath. And that was the only way you could take a bath.

SG: Japanese style bath?

JO: Yeah. It's a, you go in and take a bath up to your neck. I mean, it was, taking a bath was comfortable. I mean, what they call ofuro, and that's what we did. And then of course, I went to early, when I was living over here, went to Russellville School, and we had to walk. I believe Russellville School is there on Stark Street. And just recently, they tore it down about two years ago, and they got nothing but apartment there now. They built a big apartment. And that's, we had to walk that distance, and I went to school.

SG: Elementary school?

JO: It's a Russellville School, yeah. It's not there no more now.

SG: What kind of relationship did your parents have, your mom and dad?

JO: Well, of course, they wanted to go back to Japan, but I guess a lot of Issei people did come to United States thinking that they could accumulate and get better money, they could go back. But a lot of them couldn't do that, and that was same with our family, you know. And so they ended up staying here and farm, and we got along fine as a family. We had no electricity, of course. They had what they call kerosene burning lamp. So that's the way, and water was, I don't remember the water exactly, but when we moved in Gresham for a while, we had to use our well water. You shoot a bucket down the hole and pull the water up with a pulley, and that's where we got our water. So --

SG: Could you tell me more about, you said your father died, and then how did that affect your family after your father passed away?

JO: Those was one of the worst depressions, so I could never forget the people was very generous. They were just generous, and they kind of had a meeting. Like I said before, there was a lot of debt. So they helped us out, and we paid them ten cents to a dollar like. And they all helped us out because it just was my mother and my brother, George, and I, so, and my younger brother was only eight year old, I guess. I was thirteen, so he was about, around ten or twelve, I guess.

SG: And who helped you out?

JO: Well, we managed to keep farming, and I remember, well, the things, a lot of things that happened that's pretty hard to remember. We had to borrow some money again or something.

SG: Where did you borrow the money from?

JO: I can't say where it come, who, they're not here no more, so --

SG: Was there a special community organization?

JO: Bank went down too, I guess. There was no money in the bank. Of course, we didn't have to worry about that because we didn't have money in the bank. But we, that's why I had to work out. I had to work in Longview sawmill. Then my younger brother and I, we went to California for a while. And as the time went on, war broke out in 1941, I guess.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.