Interviews
Family background
Initially, I was born in Seattle.
I*: What year was that?
In ’21. And we lived in Seattle…I don’t know how long. But about 3 years later, we went to Japan for about 6 months. My third brother was born there and then we came back and then we lived in Seattle and Portland for a while because dad was working as a…he was a manju-ya. He made manju – kashi-ya. He trained in Japan and was an excellent kashi-ya. Anyway, he opened his store – the Fugetsu – in Tacoma and had a very successful business. Then finally, in 1931, he had 4 sons. Decided that he was going to move to the country because he wanted his boys to grow up in the country rather than the city. So we moved here to Oregon.
That’s me, Ken, Yosh, and Takashi -- the 4 boys who were living in Tacoma at the time. That’s my father. We think taken in about 1918. He sold his store and decided to be a farmer and he had no experience as a farmer and he had a friend here who was from the same ken (prefecture) – Gifu-ken in Japan – and that was his contact. So he moved…we moved to a place called Hillside, which is about 30 miles west of Portland and got a 30-acre to raise strawberries.
* “I” indicates an interviewer (Akemi Kikumura Yano).
Date: December 6, 2005
Location: Oregon, US
Interviewer: Akemi Kikumura Yano
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
Explore More Videos
Backstory of Parents
(b. 1939) a businesswoman whose family volunterily moved to Salt Lake City in Utah during the war.
Coming home to his mother after the war
(1919 - 2015) Nisei who served in World War II with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team
Marriage and Family
(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader
His family Traveled to Japan in 1940
(b. 1938) Japanese American. Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor
Early Childhood
(1914–2015) Nisei YMCA and Japanese American community leader
Adoption Story
(b. 1939) a businesswoman whose family volunterily moved to Salt Lake City in Utah during the war.
Doing chores
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Spending time with children
(b.1926) Democratic politician and three-term Governor of Hawai'i
Going back to Hawaii
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Clothes of plantation workers
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Brother leaves for war, survival
An expert researcher and scholar on Japanese immigrant clothing.
Food growing up
(b.1948) Nikkei from Southern California living in Japan.
Relationship with my father
(b. 1920) Incarcerated during World War II. Active member of the Japanese Canadian community