July 29, 2008
We conducted our first Watsonville interviews today, which went very well. We were lucky to be able to shoot our interviews in Kizuka Hall, home to the Watsonville-Santa Cruz JACL chapter. Chiyoko, who I blogged about in a previous post, was our very first interviewee and provided a wonderful overview of Watsonville history. Chiyoko owned and managed Yagi’s Tackle Shop until 2004, retiring after 57 years in business! My second interviewee was Kitako, a Watsonville native and really unique personality. She discussed the discrimination and hardship many Japanese Americans faced in Watsonville after the war. I’m looking forward to hearing more stories tomorrow!