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AI: Well, now tell me about your name. You said that your name was...

AO: Arthur, I was born as Arthur Mitsuru Okami.

AI: And do you know how you got the name Arthur?

AO: My father was a Christian man and he believed in Christianity. And that's why each of us children were given a Christian name. And I think that's through, the decision was made through his Christian friends that he knew.

AI: Do you happen to know if he was a Christian when he was growing up in Japan, or did he convert later after coming to the U.S.?

AO: I'm not quite sure, but possibly when he arrived in United States. That's why he would... he read a lot of religious books that I know of.

AI: Well, so then, tell me, how did you communicate at home with your parents? When -- I'm talking about before you started grade school. Did you speak mostly in Japanese?

AO: Oh, it was very mixed, yes. It was like my mother would say, "Sutoa ite pan katte kudasai." And then she would give us some money to buy the bread. And so the subject will be in Japanese and the verb -- Japanese and English -- but the verb will be in Japanese, like, "You go to the store and buy meat," or whatever.

AI: And how would you answer back? Would you answer in Japanese or English or both?

AO: As much Japanese as we understood to say, but mainly in broken Japanese and English.

AI: Well, and then, so your older sister would have started school the year before you did?

AO: Yes.

AI: And do you have memories of when you started going to school?

AO: I do. I remember kindergarten very well. And my kindergarten teacher's name was... oh, I'm gonna have to think again. It'll come up. I remember her definitely because my father did take care of her yard... Miss Cook, Lydia Cook was the name of my kindergarten teacher. And I remember going to her house. She had a nice, beautiful house in East Whittier. And she did own a orange grove. And the man that was helping her taking care of the orange grove was Joe Stritmatter. And we were, known him for a good many years. And Vinci, the Green family was also associated with Joe Stritmatter. And Joe Strimatter married the younger daughter of the Green family. And the Greens had a hundred-acre or ninety-acre ranch in Fallbrook. And Joe Stritmatter, after marrying, marrying Green, had, looked after the ranch for the Green family. And we'd been at the farm. And we used to stay at their ranch house on the trips that we used to make to San Diego and Tijuana. And I was probably around eight or nine years old at the time.

AI: So why would you be going to San Diego or Tijuana? Was it a vacation?

AO: Yes.

AI: Or work for your father or...

AO: Yes. No, it's not work, it was just going on a vacation. And I remember my father stopped -- we'd go down with another families. And the other family was (Kanno) in Santa Ana. And they grew asparagus. And so we'd get together in a Model T Ford, go down Highway 101, and we stopped in Tijuana one time and our friend didn't have a passport with him so they couldn't go into Tijuana, but just outside in San Ysidro. And my mother was looking for a place to buy ice cream and there was no ice cream available at that time.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.