Oral history interview with Kay N. Toyooka

Collection

Identifier: SR 975

Staff Only

Oral history interview with Kay N. Toyooka

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Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Kay N. Toyooka was conducted by Yasashi Ichikawa at Toyooka’s home in Portland, Oregon, on April 16, 1992. The interview was recorded as part of the Japanese American Oral History Project, which was conducted by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library to preserve the stories of Japanese Americans in Oregon. The interview was conducted in Japanese; the description of the interview provided here is based on an incomplete transcript made in English. The accuracy of the translation and transcription have not been verified. In addition to the audio recording and incomplete transcript, this collection includes a color photograph of Toyooka taken at the time of the interview.

According to the transcript, Toyooka discusses his early life in Hiroshima, Japan, talks about immigrating to the United States in 1919, and shares his memories of farm life in Oregon during the 1920s and 1930s. He also talks about his marriage to Fumie Kato, and about the lives and careers of their children. He discusses his experiences while incarcerated by the U.S. government at the Portland Assembly Center in Portland, Oregon, and the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho during World War II. He closes the interview by reflecting on how much Japanese Americans lost as a result of incarceration.

Dates

Creation: 1992 April 16

Creator

Toyooka, Kay N. (Kay Nobuyoshi), 1904-1996 (Interviewee, Person)
Ichikawa, Yasashi (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Kay Nobuyoshi Toyooka was born in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1904. In 1919, he immigrated to the United States. He was a farmer in Carver, Lake Oswego, Sherwood, and Troutdale, Oregon. In 1930, he and Fumie Kato were married; they later had four children. During World War II, he and his family were among more than 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by the U.S. government. They were first ordered to the Portland Assembly Center in Portland, Oregon, and then sent to the Minodoka Relocation Center in Idaho. After the war ended, the family moved to Gresham, Oregon. Kay Toyooka died in 1996.

Sources: Vital records in Ancestry.com; information provided by Toyooka in his interview; Toyooka’s obituary, published in the Oregonian on May 20, 1996.

Extent

0.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (51 min., 59 sec.) + incomplete transcript (12 pages) + 1 photograph (color))

Language of Materials

Japanese

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Kay N. Toyooka, conducted in Japanese by Yasashi Ichikawa on April 16, 1992, as part of the Japanese American Oral History Project. Toyooka discusses his early life in Hiroshima, Japan, his immigration to the United States, and farm life in Oregon in the 1920s and 1930. He speaks about his experiences at the Portland Assembly Center in Portland, Oregon, and the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho as one of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II.