Interviews with Japanese in Utah: Tasaku Kameda

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OHI intaview with Tasaku Kameda 6/6/84 3 ~ roc.ms and one roan had two living there. In the ciJ .er bunk house, with three roa:n.s, there were two single men in a rOCJn - so six in a bunk house - that was the arrange-ment. LK Were the Japanese segregated? TK I think that was the arrangement. There were many Greeks not many Italians. When I first worked there, there weren't many Italians. They didn't sean to like to work in the mines or didn't know about it. Mayre that's the reason. In Italy, there aren't many mines canpa.red to Northem Eurqpe like Bulgaria, Yugoslavia; there were many from that area. Chinese are fotmd all over the world so there were many Chinese but not in the mine. In town, there were three or five stores nmned by Chinese. The first thing they do in a coal town, they start a latmdry if they had ~ a bucket. Then if· they can afford to buy pots and pans, they S(X)n start a restaurant. LK What did you do with all that money? TK Anyplace I go I work conscientiously so I saved - very rarely I had less than $1,000. Most of the other miners gambled their money away. LK Where d.:it! you deposit the money? TK In the bank. LK Were you mailing any money back to Japan? TK I didn' t send a cent to Japan. Those who had wives in Japan did send money to Japan. LK Did you maintain contact or correspondence with people in Japan? TK It • s a strange thing - as I think back to ~ey childhood - I realized the difference between my father and ley way of living. Now that I have time and when I feel gocxi, I read old newspapers and old magazines. Along that line in the olden tines, people used to say that "Birth is much but breeding is more." It's arout lineage, heritage, but breeding from birth, fran the time a child is able to understand, gradually to mischivous boy being told and scolded, until he becanes an adult. The child mends his ways gradually at each stages of growth- that's breeding. In a strict