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Living through the Great Depression

The thing is, when you talk to others of that generation, they says, you know, you felt that way too? I says yeah, we had fun. We played. But we didn’t play - we had to make our own toys, out of wood and whatever. Amuse ourselves. But we ate three meals a day. I’m not saying we got McDonalds hamburgers. We didn’t get that, you know. But we did realize that the parents were going through all that. Today it’s the same thing, the families. They’re hand to mouth, is the way they’re living. They can’t get that...if you’re working somewhere...before the week is up.

But we had cases like that, we had many times it was like this. And sometimes, that I wasn’t realizing that my brothers told me, you know, mother went over to the neighbors asking for two or three dollars? And they would turn around a week or two later and they don’t ask, I’d like to have that two or three dollars now. No. They’d just come over and ask if they could borrow two or three dollars. Like the old days, they used to talk about your sugar jar is empty so you go next door and they can give you just barely give you maybe two spoons of sugar. But those stories are true. And if you shop often enough to the neighborhood grocery store, they says alright. They’ll carry you until you can pay for it. 


Great Depression, 1929-1939

Date: February 6, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: John Esaki

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

Interviewee Bio

Jimmy Ko Fukuhara was born on September 21, 1921 in Los Angeles, California to Japanese immigrants, Ume and Ichisuke Fukuhara. In 1927, his father moved the family to Santa Monica, California, and got started in the nursery business. After graduating from Santa Monica High School, Jimmy worked at the nursery, until 1942, when he and his family were sent to the Manzanar concentration camp.

Jimmy was able to leave camp early, and moved to Pennsylvania with his younger brother, George. Within sixty days, Jimmy was drafted into the army, and volunteered to serve in the Military Intelligence school. After going through basic training, Jimmy was sent to Tokyo, Japan. There he worked for the labor department in General MacArthur’s headquarters. Before leaving Japan, he visited Hiroshima in hopes of connecting with his parents’ relatives. After being discharged, Jimmy returned to Santa Monica and the family nursery business. Jimmy continued to work in the nursery with his four brothers, until he retired in 1986. (May 2016)