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TOKUSHIN NAKAMOTO
published Oct 15, 2018

An Oral History Tokushin Nakamoto A ninety-eight-year-old man describes Okinawan family life; immigration; work on Hawi Plantation, Kohala; and his various jobs as a farmer, goat and pig seller, sugar plantation worker. Based on interviews by Michiko Kodama, ESOHP Researcher/Interviewer. Translated by Akio Nakazawa. Edited by Wayne Shiohara . About 3 o'clock one morning, a new chain securing the boat broke and she floated outside the reef to Puako Bay. Inside of the reef it is really calm, just like a port, but it is rough outside. I was awakened by someone pulling my leg. I woke up, but found nobody was there. I was half-asleep when somebody pulled my leg again. This time I woke up right away and tried to grab at the one pulling my leg, but what I grasped was only a mosquito net. I was scared because I was pulled almost out of the mosquito net. While I was up, Mr. Ichiro Goto came to wake me, calling, "Mr. Nakamoto! Mr. Nakamoto!" I got up and asked him what happened. He said, "Your boat is out of the bay floating away." The two of us ran on the sandy beach and took a canoe to get the boat back. I thought the one pulling my leg must have been God. I firmly believe that. This was not the only case. Once there was a tidal wave report from Kawaihae that five big waves were coming to Puako, so we took the things on the boat out to the beach and bailed water out of the boat. While we waited, the waves came and took her away to the open sea and brought her back two or three times. She rolled and tumbled, and the third time she was brought back to shore. A Hawaiian man threw a rope and jumped on the boat and secured it. The boat was saved. I had just put three so-called unions on the joint but the engine was not tightly secured on the boat. It was really incredible that the engine had not fallen off! I really think that God was on the boat and saved her. I really thought so. Then the war started and I was forced to move. Japanese couldn't live close to the beach; they sent me inland. At that time my wife and children were at Kohala - because of their school. I went there and stayed there during the war. We were ordered to grow vegetables or something and to deliver only to the military. They ordered me not to sell anywhere else. I started growing sweet potatoes. I was good at it since I had grown them in Okinawa and I'd never grown any other vegetables. I had 40 acres of land (leased) so it was on quite a large scale. I knew how to select seed potatoes to make many potatoes. Sometimes the military ordered 300 bags of potatoes. When I got a 300-bag order, we did our best in digging potatoes, but we couldo't make it all the time. Sometimes we could make 280 bags. We did our best, but it was just like labor service for the military. They didn't pay much. Otherwise everything was the same. Everybody was good to me. Only I couldn't sell my products freely. It was difficult to make any profit. All my sons were drafted too. I sent seven soldiers from my family. All of them came back without being injured, though. After the war ended, we could sell freely and I kept growing sweet potatoes. In 1948, I came to Kahaluu (Oahu) and started in the banana and sweet potato business. It was quite big - 10 or 12 acres. I opened up a hilly area and planted two or three acres of banana trees and six to ten acres of sweet potatoes. We sold to the produce companies in Honolulu, but even then we could not make much profit.

Okinawan people in Hawaii are very prosperous now. Before, the mainland Japanese knew Hawaii better than the Okinawans because they had come earlier. I don't know about the mainland Japanese people, but those who came from Okinawa were very poor and not many of them had been educated. The worst thing was being poor. I could not give my children what they wanted. Other children's parents were rich and they could go to school and play around or something like that. I couldn't afford to let them do like the other children were doing. I felt sorry for them, and it was hard for me. Other than that, all my children did well and I think they are happy now. All my children grew and became productive men and women. The first son is working for the radar camp or something of the military. The second son is a broker and an insurance agent. The third son is in Chicago. He is an auto mechanic. He is very good at it. The fourth son is a heavy equipment mechanic. He was a boss of the engineer division at a company for seven or eight years. The fifth son became a doctor of biochemistry at the University of Chicago . The sixth son enlisted in the Air Force and became a pilot. He went to the front of the war and transported people. He retired after 20 years of service and is now a potter with a master's degree in ceramics. The seventh son is a field superintendent for Hawaiian Dredging. My first daughter, who is in accounting, has three sons and two daughters. They are all good children, very smart. They got jobs as soon as they graduated from school. My second daughter, who has two sons and two daughters, is a registered nurse. My third daughter is in accounting and lives in California. I had children and they became independent in this country. I'm happy about it. I think it was better for my children to live in America, than for me to have stayed in Okinawa. Because I came here, they are all prosperous. I think I made the right choice. I have nothing to look back upon to regret. Now, I'm retired and live in Honolulu. I started taking shamisen lessons when I was 72 years old. I wanted to learn when I had time, and I was waiting for a good teacher. After I came to Honolulu, I heard that Mr. Izumigawa was the best teacher, so I stayed to learn from him. He taught only at night. I went to him four or five years. Then I found that Nakasone-sensei was teaching in the daytime every Sunday. It was troublesome to drive a car at night, so I changed to Nakasone-sensei. When I went to Okinawa, I met Kochi-sensei, who is the best player. I became a teacher, but I think they gave me a teaching certificate only because I was old. I practice those songs that I have learned so I can play them well. I play and play and play. But nobody is a good player unless he can play as well as Kochi-sensei. Once a week I go to the senior center at Lanakila. There are not many people as old as myself there, so I play with young people and talk with them. I think that's one of the reasons for my not aging. I hear the stories of young people. I always go there and eat a lot. I am enjoying longevity and am happy now after all those years of hard work. I'm going to take it easy, and live many more years - eat and play. I hope it will be a happy life. I think happiness now is to be at leisure.

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