Interviewee: Ray Yutani

Relationship to Nikkei gardeners: His father, Tom Yutani, was a gardener. He and his brothers helped him with his work. Tom Yutani is also an expert on Southern California weeds.

Date: July 17, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

Brief Summary: Ray discusses his father’s beginnings as a gardener, and admits that helping his father garden was fun

Transcription
You know, I was nine years old when he started into gardening. We came out from Detroit, having relocated there after the—going out of the camp. And, he promised he would never work for anybody else but himself. And, of course, there’s not many things you can do on a shoestring budget, but of course gardening was one of those things. If you had a dependable car or truck, inexpensive tools and enough for a lawnmower, you can—you know with hard work and dedication you can start—that’s why he started out with the gardening and he did it for quite a few years. He was lucky that he had three sons, I’m number two son, and he was able to—we helped him out. For us it was fun, you know but it was—it helped him out in his gardening.

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