<Begin Segment 2>

JK: Now, let's talk about your parents individually. Your father, what was his name?

SI: His name was Sanji. "San," like "three," and Sanji is "(third)." In his family there was, I think, four boys, and he was the third son.

JK: Okay, so they named him by their birth order?

SI: Number, uh-huh.

JK: And where was he born in Japan?

SI: He was born in Fukuoka.

JK: And do you remember, what did the family do, his family do for a living?

SI: Well, they were very poor, and I'm sure that it must have been farming. And then as he grew older, when he should be out making money, there were no jobs. So I just heard about this a few years back, he had gone to China or somewhere to look for jobs, he couldn't find, so he came back. And then his oldest brother had come to America, and I wish I could remember what year. But anyway, he got involved in the lumber business, the older brother.

JK: And what part of the...

SI: He came to Portland, and I notice a picture in the Buddhist church where my uncle is in that picture, he was one of the board members. But then he... I think he got ambitious and he got into the lumber business and went to Seattle. And he was buying and selling lumber to Japan. And so he was making a living and he told his brother, who was my father, to come to America, there's more opportunity there. "There's nothing for you to do in Japan." So he came over, came to Portland, and he didn't go to Seattle. He stayed in Portland and he had a job at the Multnomah Hotel and he was cooking for a while. And he said he didn't know how to cook American food, and they said, "We'll teach you." So in a very short time, he was a cook at the Multnomah Hotel.

JK: And American food, he learned how...

SI: American food, yes. And then he heard about this opportunity in Independence, Oregon, where they grew hops. "There's a good opportunity for you to make a living there. Why don't you go?" So he did.

JK: So where is Independence? What city...

SI: It's south of Salem, south of Portland.

JK: Was he married then?

SI: Oh, yes, he was married. And by that time, there was my oldest brother and then me, so the two of us went to Independence and lived on a ranch. I lived there until I got married.

JK: So did he work on a hop farm or did he own it or lease it?

SI: He worked on it, and he was the foreman. They made him, they appointed him foreman. And he'd never grown hops before, but he learned real fast. And he was supervising, and in the spring, they had to plant new hop plants and they needed help. So they said, "In the winter, you go to Portland and round up a few people to come and work for you in the springtime. And then after that, we won't need you." So he would come to Portland in the winter, and oh, he must have (known) three or four people around town that weren't doing anything, so they came to work for him. (My father's permanent home was in Independence, Oregon).

JK: So he was good at getting people to help on the hop farm.

SI: Yes. So I can't remember their names but...

JK: Were they Japanese?

SI: They were all Japanese.

JK: Okay. He was kind of making a little Japanese community.

SI: Yes, uh-huh.

JK: Well, let's find out about your mom, her early history. What was her name?

[Interruption]

SI: Her first name was -- I think they only had one name -- Taru, and her last name was Hirano. That was the last name. And there was three girls in the family and a boy.

JK: What did her family do for a living?

SI: I think it probably was farming. And they were struggling, you know.

JK: So when did she come to America?

SI: Well, they said that if there's an oldest boy, that's very convenient, but they didn't have an oldest boy. So the oldest girl had to stay behind with the family, with the folks. And my mother was the second daughter, so they decided to send her to America and she did not want to go. But you just didn't say no to your parents in those days.

JK: So did she come by herself?

SI: Yes, she did, (on a freighter, with hundreds of others).

JK: She came to America, she came to get married, or was she going to work?

SI: Well, my father knew that he was going to marry her. He hadn't seen her, but he had heard that in this family, there's four girls, "So I'll take the second one." And my mother had finished grade school, and she had gone to high school for two years, and that was pretty good for those times. And she learned how to sew and cook in high school, so it came in real handy when she came to America.

JK: So she came to America to marry your father?

SI: Yes. He had pointed her out. He hadn't seen her, but he wanted the second daughter because he knew that the first one couldn't (leave home). So she came, and her sewing really came in handy because she had all these girls.

JK: You're right, a lot of girls in the family.

SI: And she made up her own patterns, made up all our dresses, she was real good at it.

JK: So when they got married, they lived first in Portland?

SI: In Portland.

JK: And then they had your brother and you?

SI: Uh-huh.

JK: And then they moved to...

SI: Independence.

JK: And that's where you grew up mostly?

SI: Yes. (Up to age twenty-two, when I got married).

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