Interviewee: Joe Nagano

Relationship to Nikkei gardeners: His father, Sanezumi Nagano, was a gardener. He helped his father with his work

Date: July 17, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

Brief Summary: Joe reveals the Japanese American secret!

Transcription
My father began about 1925, and soon after that UCLA was being built, and the UCLA Westwood community was really growing. Um, there was a lot of work for gardeners, landscaping people and things like that. My father had a model T and no power machines, no power mowers, no clippers and things like that. So, I had to do it all by hand, and that's one of the reasons the Japanese Americans were very strong and really wonderful athletes. [laughs] That was one of our secrets. [laughs]

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This interview was conducted as part of the Opening Day activities for the exhibition Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden.