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JA: We're in the home of our narrator, Mitsuko Takeshita Hashiguchi, who comes from a long-time Bellevue pioneer family, the Takeshitas. And the interviewer is James Arima. Good morning, Mitzie.
MH: Good morning.
JA: Could you please tell us who your parents were and where they had come from?
MH: My parents were Haruji and Kuma Takeshita and they came from Okayama, Japan.
JA: And what did your father's family do in Japan?
MH: In Japan they owned acreage and (...) he was a farmer, and they raised rice (...). And my mother's side was peach farmers. And they were on the other side, about half an hour apart, in different farms.
JA: And when did your father decide to come to the United States, or when did he come to the United States?
MH: My father came in 1901 to Seattle, and he was about twenty-three years old at that time.
JA: And do you know why he decided to come to the United States?
MH: Well, they all heard over there, "Go to America and you can make your money and then you can come back again." So they all wanted to come to U.S.A.
JA: But his family had a farm in Japan, so it wasn't a real necessity for him to come, right?
MH: Yes, that's right, too.
<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.