<Begin Segment 2>

MA: So, I guess, let's talk a little bit about your mother's story. And where was your mother born?

GM: My mother was born in Hawaii, although her papers will show that she was born in Japan. She was born in Hawaii, and my grandfather took her back to Japan, and I guess that's when he took the papers out on her for the birth and everything. I don't know what the government ruling was on that, but her records show as being born in Japan.

MA: And what was her family doing in Hawaii during that time?

GM: Well, they were laborers in Hawaii. My uncle was a photographer in those days, and I'm talking about days in the very early 19th century. And my grandfather made enough money to go back to Japan, and then he came back to the United States.

MA: So he was only in Hawaii for a short time?

GM: I don't know what a short time is. Enough, enough time to make some money and go back to Japan.

MA: Okay, so your mother was born in Hawaii, then moved to Japan, and then her, but her papers say she was born in Japan, right?

GM: Yeah, uh-huh.

MA: How did your, your mother and father meet?

GM: My, my grandfather was working in the lumber camp with my father. And they, or my grandfather, decided to take him back to Japan to meet his daughter, and later they got married. I don't know the rest of the story, how they got back to United States or what, but she did come here in the early, very early 1900s.

MA: So then your, your maternal grandfather and your father actually knew each other, then, before?

GM: Yeah, uh-huh, in the States. So they went back to Japan together.

MA: And then he --

GM: And just for the idea of seeing my mother, his daughter.

MA: And then do you know what, what year they came back to Japan? Did you remember that?

GM: No, I don't.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2005 Densho. All Rights Reserved.