<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Okay, because now we'll come back to this, because there's that period when your, when your father's brother died, he got some counseling from the Anglican church. Was that associated with the mission? Is that kind of where they met?

JY: Somehow, I just don't know how that period came about. And eventually family did find out of my dad's interest in my mother. Yet here he was a Christian lady, and wasn't really something that was acceptable at that period because not only was it Christian, but it was a Caucasian missionary that was responsible for my mother. That didn't sit too well with the family.

TI: So your father's family wasn't excited about your dad being interested in your mother who was raised by this Caucasian.

JY: Yes.

TI: And because, especially because she was Christian also.

JY: Yes.

TI: So, but yet your father was engaged to your mother?

JY: Well, I think families somewhat understood that there was something cooking, and that the engagement was official, made official before he went to America. But the acceptance by the family came quite gradually. And I'm told that that came about when there was a very severe epidemic of sekiri, it's a dysentery. And the way they controlled, it was so pervasive in town, that they had to isolate the patients by the riverside, away from their domicile. And there were some relatives in the family that were isolated in this fashion, and my mother would go to care for them. And in this manner the family became acquainted with my mother.

TI: Oh, that's a good story. Did your dad or mom ever talk about those early years in Japan and, for instance, what attracted your father to your mother or your mother to your father?

JY: No. [Laughs]

TI: They never talked about those things?

JY: They didn't talk much about those.

TI: I always ask that. I'm always curious, one of these times, someone's going to tell me these things.

JY: I guess it never occurred to me to ask.

TI: Okay. So your mother finally came to the United States.

JY: Miss Patterson again arranged that.

TI: Okay, so Miss Patterson is the missionary woman.

JY: Yes.

TI: So she arranged for your mom to come to the United States to be with your father.

JY: Yes.

TI: And then they got married in Los Angeles?

JY: No, she came to San Francisco. And apparently it was with considerable planning because the marriage took place soon after, at the cathedral in San Francisco on California Street.

TI: Would that be unusual, to be married in a cathedral?

JY: I would assume so, yeah.

TI: So do you think Miss Patterson arranged for all...

JY: I'm sure she had her fingers in that.

TI: Do you have pictures of the wedding?

JY: Yes. We have pictures of the, wedding picture of the bride and groom, yes.

TI: I'm curious, what did they wear?

JY: My dad wore a tux, and she wore a Japanese dress, kimono.

TI: So they got married --

JY: I think we have a picture somewhere.

TI: -- in San Francisco, and then they came down to Los Angeles to live.

JY: Yes, soon after.

TI: And then they started having children at that point. Let's talk a little bit about you and your siblings. What's the order of your siblings?

JY: Yeah, soon after, a year later, my mother gave birth to the first son, John. Then a couple years later I came on the scene, then the third son came about, followed in order.

TI: And his name was?

JY: Peter.

TI: Peter?

JY: Uh-huh. And then my sister came about six or seven years later.

TI: And her name was...

JY: Louise.

TI: So John, Jim, Peter, Louise.

JY: Yeah.

TI: Well, actually John, James, Peter. It sounds very biblical almost, John, James, Peter. I just noticed that, which makes sense. I guess I wanted to get just a sense of growing up in Los Angeles. This would have been, you were born in 1916?

JY: Correct.

TI: So let's go to that. You were born 1916, what was your given name when you were born? What did they name you?

JY: James Nobuo Yamazaki.

TI: And what did people call you in the neighborhood?

JY: James.

TI: They called you James?

JY: Yeah. [Laughs]

TI: Now, I've been calling you Jim. Should I be calling you James or Jim?

JY: Most of my friends now call me Jim.

TI: Okay, I hope that's okay.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.