Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1549/

Business in Missouri (Japanese)

(Japanese) Compared to California, Missouri is a better place to live, if you have ways to make ends meet. It’s so much better there. The price of a house, for example, is about one-third or even one-fifth of the price here. And in my case, I couldn’t contract work, so I had to get a job and I was willing to learn things the American way. And since I knew how to do welding, even though it wasn’t my job in Japan, - I had some experience when I was young and I had skills - I had a welding job while I was there. I worked at six places in one year.

But in Missouri, there isn’t much population, with houses located sparsely. I did it once. I worked at six places and walked around, and back then it was two dollars and sixty cents. That was the minimum wage. And they would usually want the work done with minimum wage. And they would give me a check after a week or two. Then on the check they would write 8 or 9 dollars. When I told them there had been a mistake, they would tell me I could take it, because it was me. They would do things like that. They thought that it would keep me there. But as I was looking around, I stayed at one place for only a few weeks and moved to new places. I looked around six places and thought that maybe I could do it on my own. And then I had my own place - not on a big street - but I only had two customers during six months of business there. Just small jobs. I just couldn’t make a living with that.


business economics generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan Kansas City management migration Missouri postwar Shin-Issei United States welding World War II

Date: July 17, 2016

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Yoko Nishimura, Mitsue Watanabe

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Hachiro Ohtomo was born in August, 1936, in Ono-mura, Monou-gun (currently Higashi Matsuyama City) in Miyagi Prefecture to parents who made a living by farming and fishing. He moved to Yokohama right after high school graduation and became a plumber, engaging primarily in construction works of power plants. In 1961, at age 25 he established a contractor of power plants ‘Kahoku Sangyo’ with his brother gaining success, yet he left the company and started his own business, after conflicts with his brother. In 1975, he ran for mayor in Yokohama but lost the election. He then decided to move to America. He obtained a green card and moved to Kansas City in the state of Missouri, where his sister lived at the time, with his wife and two daughters but returned to Japan after a year and a half. As his daughter couldn’t fit in the life in Japan, however, after 10 months he decided to go back to America with his family. In 1978, he moved to Los Angeles with his family. He has lived in Monrovia, California since then and has been engaged in the welding business (AAM Welding Company) in Baldwin Park. (October, 2017)

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