Densho Digital Archive - Ted Hachiya Interview (denshovh-hted

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MP: And how did your, what was the attitude of people here toward your mom and dad?

TH: Well, my dad used to tell me a funny story. He could speak some English, but my mother was required to shop, and he used to have to, when she wanted to buy eggs and the grocer didn't understand, she used to imitate a cock, he understood, but it was funny the way she shopped. And Dad like eating fish heads, and I remember my mom one time, and Mom kind of told a fib. She said, "I want the fish head for my cat." And I thought she really meant cat and brought it home, and she cooked the head for Dad, and I learned to like it myself. I understand the Indians in this country still eat heads. I think a lot of people eat heads. But when you talk about eating heads and part of the innards, it turns their stomach. [Laughs]

MP: So, Ted, do you still eat the heads?

TH: Yes. But I used to be an avid fisherman, salmon, salmon head particularly and tuna if I could get it. But the salmon head is delicious, really. You boil the stuff, and you eat the skin. You eat the eyeballs if you like it, tastes like chalk. But there's little pieces of meat inside the head, and the cartilage was good to chew on after it was cooked. And we cooked it in the soy sauce and sugar and ginger and put onion and lemon slices, and it was very tasty. I actually made teriyaki like that for people who I fish with, Caucasian fellows, and they liked it, but I didn't tell them what it was. They would barf right in the boat. [Laughs]

MP: Where did you go fishing?

TH: Well, I first started to fish in Oregon City, but it got kind of rough up there because a lot of people that worked the mills, they thought they owned the river, you know. And if you did something that not to their liking, well, they had a way of shoeing you out of there by cross, you know, anchoring you and putting you out of position. And as soon as we were able to get cars, we started to go down to a place near Scappoose, and a lot of people that sport fish down in that area call it Tokyo Bay because a lot of our people moved down that way. And we were, when we started to fish with herring, most of our people were lucky, not particularly good, but they were lucky. They were, seemed like the Japanese guys were always catching fish down there.

MP: What year would we be talking about here?

TH: Well, let's see. I started fishing in 1946 at Oregon City, and I moved down ten years later, so it was about, I guess in the '60s, so I guess we moved down below to Scappoose. The river is wider, and there was, you know, you can move about, and we did trolling down there, anchor fishing in Oregon City. We picked a spot, and we anchored. That's why I meant where they could cross-anchor you and put you out of position up there very easily.

MP: So in 1960, still they were calling it Tokyo Bay?

TH: Yeah. They were talking, as soon as we started to fish down there, we started to fish with herring I think in the '70s, and we were catching a lot of fish, but we even caught a lot of fish with lures, you know, brass spinners.

MP: Do you think that... that when they called it Tokyo Bay, was that derogatory or was that --

TH: No. There's Coon Island down there just off of Scappoose, and we fished in that particular area, and we, there was a big concentration. We had a fishing club. It was probably about ninety people strong. That's how many fishermen there were.

MP: It's all Japanese?

TH: All Japanese. And I think a third of us punch the cards out, you know, when they started to keep track of us. I think there was twenty fish allotted per year, and we'd catch fish, and we'd have to quit.

MP: Were you fishing for salmon?

TH: Yeah, mostly for salmon. This was always in March and April and part of May.

MP: And then did you freeze all your, what did you do with your catch?

TH: A lot of us didn't have freezers in those days, earlier. We smoked a lot of the fish like the Indians. Spring Chinook is very fat. It's a very tasty fish, but it's also very fat, and a lot of Caucasians didn't like it because of the strong fish flavor. But now, they all learn to eat the darn thing. The Jewish people didn't seem to mind, but they smoked it too dry mostly because it kept longer, you know. When you smoked it light, it had a tendency to, what is it, mold.