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Tough life at boarding house (Japanese)

(Japanese) There was a boarding house. It was cheap. People like helpers of gardeners were staying there. And when I came home the place was seized by this group of people from this school and they told me to join them in phony gambling. Losers were told to sing, and if they refused, an ash tray would be thrown at them. I didn’t know there was a thing like that, something I experienced at the boarding house in America. I lived in a small room, which was about 1.5 tatami-mat size (about 2.5 square meters). I believe I was paying 100 dollars – maybe it was about 80 dollars, with breakfast and lunch bento included. I was there for about two months, but I couldn’t stand it and left.


agriculture gardeners gardening generations immigrants immigration Issei Japan migration postwar Shin-Issei United States World War II

Date: August 4, 2015

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Mitsue Watanabe

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

Interviewee Bio

In 1969, he arrived in America for the first time. He lived in Los Angeles for a year and a half, traveled to various places around the world for about six months and went back to Japan. As he was deeply inspired by the life in a foreign country, however, he decided to go back and moved to America with a tourist visa. He had a job as a helper for gardeners for about two years at first, and then started working on his own. With an official visa, he got a foot in the restaurant industry. He currently runs a Japanese-style drinking place and diner, Honda-Ya, a restaurant chain in Los Angeles and Orange County, California. (August 2018)

Henry Shimizu
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Shimizu,Henry

Government urged Japanese Canadians to go to Japan

(b. 1928) Doctor. Former Chair of the Japanese Canadian Redress Foundation.

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Learning the nursery business

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Hiroshi Sakane
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Sakane,Hiroshi

On returning to post-war Peru (Japanese)

(b. 1948) Executive Director of Amano Museum

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Deciding to come to America

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Getting started in America

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Expanding business

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Harunori Oda
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Oda,Harunori

Life Philosophy

(1927-2016) Shin-Issei businessman

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Hachiro Ohtomo
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Ohtomo,Hachiro

Facing discrimination in America (Japanese)

(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner

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Takeo Uesugi
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Uesugi,Takeo

His father urged him to go to the US

(1940-2016) Issei Landscape Architect

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Terumi Hisamatsu Calloway
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Calloway,Terumi Hisamatsu

Regret (Japanese)

(b. 1937) A war bride from Yokohama

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Hachiro Ohtomo
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Ohtomo,Hachiro

Business in Missouri (Japanese)

(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner

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Hachiro Ohtomo
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Ohtomo,Hachiro

My daughter couldn’t fit in Japan, so I decided to go back to America (Japanese)

(b. 1936) Shin-issei welding business owner

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Tom Yuki
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Yuki,Tom

His family's migration to Salinas, California

(b. 1935) Sansei businessman.

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Kishi Bashi
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Bashi,Kishi

His Shin-Issei parents

(b. 1975) Musician, composer, and songwriter

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Michelle Yamashiro
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Yamashiro,Michelle

General reasons why people left Japan for Peru

Okinawan American whose parents are from Peru.

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