<Begin Segment 19>

TM: So how long was this hotel home? Did you have a new home after that?

FP: Yes, and this is very clear, 'cause it's coming closer in time. It was, we moved in the day of my birthday, into this big house, the three families, Dad and my two uncles, and Uncle Ro's family at that time. Nobi was kind of footloose and carefree. He maybe had been staying at the dorms, I don't know. And let's see...

TM: So when did you move into this new home?

FP: July 31st, that's what I was about to say, and that was my birthday.

TM: And what year was that?

FP: The same year that we fled, '48.

TM: '48, okay. Wow. So this new home was, what neighborhood was it? In Portland?

FP: In Ladd's Addition, where I inherited the original home. And I'm just thrilled to be living there.

TM: And that's where you live today.

FP: Right. And for so much of my life, I took it for granted. So we moved in in July 31, 1948. I'm one of the very oldest residences right now, alive there.

TM: And so it sounds like it was a fairly packed house, is that correct?

FP: Yes.

TM: What was that like?

FP: Every upstairs bedroom, which was fairly large, because they were fairly large old... it wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was a large house built back in 1910 that leads up into the circle in this plated community. And it was my uncle's family in the front bedroom, and Dad and Mom and I in the second bedroom. And then later... (...) anyway, I stayed with Grandma in the back bedroom, and I don't remember where Uncle Nobi was.

TM: And your neighbors in the neighborhood, were there other Japanese American families?

FP: Quite a few, quite a few. And I think that had a bearing on Epworth Methodist Church, which has quite a few Japanese (from) the area.

TM: In Ladd's Addition?

FP: (No, there were several Asians in the SE Hawthorne Area.)

TM: And what job was your father doing at this time? Did he find work?

FP: Yes. He found work shortly after we picked the summer, picking beans. He found a similar job to Kaiser Permanente in the shipyards at Zidell, and that's another big scrap company, you know, disassembling large (ships) and things like that. And it was quite a lucrative (trade in ports) right after the war.

TM: So was that how he was able to... did he pay the mortgage for the house, or were the uncles as well paying?

FP: Right, (dad and) the uncles would pay, and then when they left to buy their own homes a few years later, Dad eventually paid, (and) helped them pay for their house. So it was a communal plan, but it worked out. 'Cause we had to all go somewhere with our family, we were kind of in tight quarters, but we were just glad to be out of Minidoka and have a home after being flooded out of Vanport city.

TM: So all that change, all those places you've lived, and here you are in your home now.

FP: Right.

TM: And (it's a) two story full house.

FP: Yes. (Full of too much memorabilia).

TM: What were mealtimes like there?

FP: The three... oh, and then eventually the third bedroom, Uncle Nobi had married Aunt Alice. Now, this is not the Aunt Alice you know, this is the second Aunt Alice. So the three wives would take turns cooking, and (we would all) split the food bill. So it was a pretty crowded table, but very jovial table at evening time.

TM: And did you have chores, did you help your mom or your aunts?

FP: Let's see. Not an awful lot, because I was expected to study. Like it's very similar to Japan, the expectation is, "You do well. You go do your job which is study hard." So the three wives would pitch in and do the housework duties.

TM: What temple did your family go to?

FP: It was on Twelfth off of (SE 12th), Powell, very close to the Ross Island Bridge, and it was the Buddhist Henjyoji Daihon Temple, a very, very small (congregation).

TM: And your father, was he again engaged in the Portland JACL?

FP: I think he was, but maybe not quite so much as earlier years. Because he was older and young people were starting to step up and fill those roles. So in those early years, like the late '50s and '60s, and maybe it was '70s, both of my uncles served as president, and if you look on the names, you'll see a couple of Sumidas in there: (my uncles) Nobi Sumida and Hiroshi Sumida served as presidents, (in Portland) JACL.

TM: Of the Portland chapter of the JACL.

FP: Right, right.

TM: Do you recall making trips into Nihonmachi, Japantown, at that time? Do you know, sort of, during those years, when you were young, what it was like, your impressions of it? Was it a thriving place?

FP: It was pretty busy, but it was like, to some degree, a lot of homeless lived there, so it wasn't too terribly different. But in that Maloo, George Kido opened up a general store, right.

TM: Kida, I believe.

FP: Kida, Kida, right. And so we would go down there to shop occasionally. And I don't know if there was a grocery store there or not, I don't think so.

TM: Anzen was there.

FP: Oh, yes, yes, we went to Anzen, I remember that, and Tofu-ya, right. Like that would be the Otas. So those we regularly frequented.

TM: How about the New Tokyo restaurant?

FP: Yes, and (...) the owners of (New Tokyo) became our shirttail relatives.

TM: The Tameyasus?

FP: No, is it... Kawasakis? Right, right, okay. And then that was my Aunt Alice (Kawasaki), my new Aunt Alice, she just got married, (her) mother and father that owned (and managed the business).

TM: The New Tokyo restaurant?

FP: New Tokyo, right.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.