Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Mitsuko Hashiguchi Interview
Narrator: Mitsuko Hashiguchi
Interviewer: James Arima
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Date: July 28, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-hmitsuko-01-0001

<Begin Segment 1>

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.