(tranquil music) - Hood River apples have really symbolized the highs and the lows of my hometown.

From the early immigration of Issei, first generation, who worked on the apples, and raised the famous Hood River apples, and then returning from incarceration during World War Two to a valley that still didn't want them to return.

(lively music) - My grandfather started farming in 1911 and our family's been in the farming business here in the valley since then.

I'm still working at 63.

I look at it as my responsibility.

I consider us to be survivors.

(wind howling) (bird tweeting) (footsteps pattering) (grandfather clock ticking) - I walk two miles every day.

(grandfather clock ticking) Hey, Siri.

(Siri responds) How many miles have I walked?

- [Siri] You've walked around 2.2 miles today.

(tranquil music) - I'm Mich Kiyokawa.

This year I'll be 101.

I don't know where you got this.

I haven't seen this forever.

- [Becky Kiyokawa] I know.

Which one's that one of?

What is that one?

I don't remember this.

- [Becky Kiyokawa] Did you wear a wedding gown?

- No, I was wearing my suit.

- [Becky Kiyokawa] Is that it?

- No wedding gown during the war.

(tranquil music continues) - Hood River had a reputation for the quality of its apples from the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Now, at that time, Japan was allowing Japanese to emigrate, and when they came to Hood River, and saw the fruit trees, and looked up at the mountain, there was Mount Hood.

And for many of them, it was reminiscent of Mount Fuji in Japan.

It was difficult labor.

They were paid less than other workers, but it was twice the income that they would've made in Japan.

By 1910, Hood River actually had the largest population of Japanese outside Portland.

(plane roaring) (bomb exploding) On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066.

And that maintained that Issei, and, it later turned out, the second generation Nisei citizens as well would be removed from their homes and sent to concentration camps on American soil.

- My grandfather was fortunate enough to lease his land 'cause he knew he was going to be gone, and he didn't know how long.

He was able to make a deal with the Stadelmans.

It was fortunate 'cause when we came back, then my grandfather still had his property.

- FDR evacuated all the West Coast Japanese and we were all put in camps.

That was where I met my future husband.

(Mich chuckling) He lived in the opposite corner of the camp and he was a G-man, garbage man.

(tranquil music) His family has an orchard and he bought a place in Parkdale.

'Cause I'm from Tacoma, I think the first thing I realized was that's the first time I was smelling dirt.

- After the war, less than 40% of the Hood River Issei and Nisei returned to Hood River.

- My grandfather came back.

There was nothing written, nothing too much said, but they came back, continued farming.

- That was part of the gaman, I think, the perseverance that Issei learned to demonstrate.

- I have four girls and one boy.

I'm most proud of the kids I raised.

- I was the oldest.

Nancy's the second.

Margie's the third middle sister.

Becky is the youngest girl, and then Randy.

The Kiyokawas is one of the last remaining Japanese American families in the valley that still do farming here.

(tranquil music) (birds tweeting) (bee buzzing) (door clicking) (vehicle engine rumbling) - So we're just finishing up pruning, switching over to planting and grafting.

(energetic music) We grow over 125 varieties of apples, apples that are heirloom varieties, apples that are from around the world.

To grow the perfect apple, you have to have the right conditions, the right soil, the right weather, and a lot of luck.

Parkdale sits right on the base of Mount Hood.

There's the natural hills that separates us from the Portland wetter areas.

Then there's another set of hills on the east that prevents us from being as dry.

We have this unique microclimate from the lower valley of Hood River to the upper valley called Parkdale.

We just have a unique set of growing conditions.

One of the things that we do to protect our bloom is using wind machines.

We activate it and turn 'em on during the bud development stages and especially during the time it's bloomed.

That's when the blossoms are very susceptible to cold weather.

Well, springtime, I think it's a lot of people's favorites.

It's when the trees start to wake up from being dormant.

Over the wintertime, the buds start to swell.

For us growers, it's a chance to go and assess to see what the crop might look like.

(energetic music) (clippers snipping) So this is what we're doing right now is just prepping this one row for grafting.

(energetic music continues) - I really appreciate what he has done to the farm.

Before, my dad, he was a traditional orchardist and you can count how many apples and pear varieties they had probably on one or two hands.

Randy had taken over the farm, and he has just built it up so tremendously, and pushed the envelope on all kinds of things.

- About 45 acres of apples.

We have about 100 acres of pears.

The rest of it's in cherries, peaches.

It's a time for hope, time for dreaming, and time for prep.

(vehicle driving by) The fall is kind of a unique time that you get to finally pick that piece of fruit.

It's probably the most rewarding time.

(lively music) (forklift rumbling) (tractor rumbling) The Galas, we have about three rows here.

If you like it sweeter, grab one that's a little bit redder.

If you like it tart, grab one in the middle of the tree that's maybe more yellow without the red color in it.

(people talking indistinctly) It's a buzzing of people out there picking, our own crew harvesting it.

We might have the crew picking, other people packing fruit, people pressing, (juice trickling) trucks driving down the road with loads of fruit to take to the packing house or to take into Portland.

- Randy's been so forward thinking with things like the U-pick block.

I don't know that I would've ever thought of a U-pick block and he was one of the first ones here in the valley.

- We brought back our apple tasting event since COVID.

I think my biggest thing I enjoy is when I go and walk out in the stand, and people that bite into an apple and say that that's their favorite apple, the best apple they've ever eaten.

- When I go into Kiyokawa Orchards and see the fruit, and the busy people excited about the quality of the fruit, and making choices about how they were going to use it when they go home, there's some pride that I have in recognizing what they've done.

There are a few families, Japanese American families in Hood River, who are continuing the legacy of our grandparents and our parents.

There's a real joy and power in knowing that this is continuing.

(lively music) (rain pattering) To go through the trauma of wartime, to be uprooted from your home.

I think our parents and grandparents wanted us as third generations and succeeding generations to have open eyes, to not feel like we were looking over our shoulders and to be the best we could be.

- When people ask, "Am I going to retire?"

I'd probably say 70, but I'll continue as long as I can.

I think I'd love to have family farms be viable and attractive enough to where we can continue on.

- This is a pivotal time for our family, and I know that Randy's feeling it, and we all realize that there's going to be a transition period.

Yeah, with mom that that is going to be a finite time.

(pensive music) I'm grateful to my parents and my grandparents on both sides for having the courage of crossing the ocean and coming here, and setting up a place that we can live, and it's such a beautiful place.

My mom says it's paradise and it is.

(inspirational music)