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MA: Okay, so today is March 14th, and I'm here at the Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, Washington, and I'm going to be interviewing Mii Tai. And Kazue Yamamoto is listening in, and Dana Hoshide is our cameraperson today. So thank you so much for doing this, it's really great. I wanted to start by asking you a little bit about your parents. Where was your father from in Japan?

MT: Kochi-ken.

MA: And do you know how he ended up in Spokane?

MT: No, I don't know.

MA: And what about your mother, where was she from in Japan?

MT: They're from the same, Kochi.

MA: And do you know how they happened to meet?

MT: No, but then they did say at the church, they did have a program of "picture brides," and they had my dad's name in there, so I don't know if she's a picture bride or not.

MA: Oh, so at the church, they did, like, a play or something, about picture brides?

MT: Yeah, who were picture brides and fixing, putting their faces together. [Laughs]

MA: So it's possible that your mother could have been a picture bride?

MT: Well, that's what they did, but I never heard anything from my parents.

MA: So, when were you born?

MT: September 20, 1923.

MA: And what is your full name?

MT: Mii Tai.

MA: And how did your parents decide to give you your first name, Mii, because it's spelled M-I-I, right? It's quite unusual.

MT: I was born in a church that my parents were caretakers of, the Japanese church, and being the third... fourth child and being a girl, my father told his friend to name me, and he named me "Me" for Methodist Episcopal, M.E. M.E. Church, kyokai.

MA: But your parents spelled it M-I-I?

MT: Mii, yeah, uh-huh.

MA: Oh, so like the Japanese way? So a little bit more about your parents, you said they were caretakers for the church?

MT: Uh-huh.

MA: Do you know how they got involved with the church?

MT: No, uh-uh. They never told me.

MA: Could you name your siblings in the order they were born?

MT: Do I know?

MA: Can you name them?

MT: Kimi, K-I-M-I, Saji, S-A-J-I, Ida, I-D-A, she was born in Idaho. [Laughs] And then Mii, and then Kozo for the last. He's the last boy.

MA: So there were four girls and then one boy?

MT: Uh-huh, that's right.

MA: And you said your sister, Ida, had an interesting history behind her name, too.

MT: Born in Idaho, so it was Ida, Ida in Nihongo.

MA: Wow. Where exactly were you born?

MT: In, within the church, midwife.

MA: Oh. What address was that?

MT: It was on Third and Howard, and what's funny is that they were in, the Japanese church was there on Howard, then they turned around the block, and then the next time they moved was on the same block but on Third Avenue, in the middle of...

MA: Oh, so they had the church on Third and Howard, and then a couple years later moved it?

MT: They had it here, then they would turn around the corner and that Central Methodist Church is there, and then we were right next-door, almost.

MA: What was the name of the church?

MT: Central Methodist Church. Those were the days they had a shoe, shoeing, shoeing horses on the same block. I used to go there after kokogakko and watch them, ping-ping-ping, the back of the heels of the horses, putting shoes on 'em. That was interesting.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.