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TI: So, Mits, we're going to get started now. And the way I start is with a brief, what's called... I can't remember what you call it now, but date and where we are. So today's March 20, 2008, we're in the Densho office. On camera is Dana Hoshide, and I'm interviewing, Tom Ikeda, the executive director of Densho. And so I'm going to start, Mits, with just some basic background information. And the first question is, what was the name given to you at birth?

MT: Mitsuru.

TI: And was there a middle name? Mitsuru...

MT: No. That was my Japanese name, no English name.

TI: Okay. And when and where were you born?

MT: Here in Seattle, Washington, October 22, 1924.

TI: Now, did you have any siblings, brothers or sisters?

MT: Yes, I had three sisters.

TI: And so why don't you give me the birth order of your family in terms of your sisters and where you came in.

MT: Okay, my sister Yoshi Kanemori, married to Frank, Dr. Frank Kanemori, who passed away here a few years ago, she's the oldest. And then Pauline Asaba, married to Watson Asaba of the old Sagamiya store downtown. He's passed away. And then Isa Koba, or Isa Ko, I guess, should say. She passed away six or seven years ago, she was married to Bob Koba, who was a berry farmer in, family was a berry farmer in Bainbridge, and later on, he had a farm in Carnation area, where I think you were saying you went there.

TI: Yeah. That's funny, when you said "Koba," yeah, I, as a kid, I picked strawberries and raspberries at the Koba Farms in, we always called it Fall, Fall City?

MT: Yes.

TI: Fall City. Okay, so that's the connection. That's why I know your daughters, because they were, it was like their uncle that, and aunt that we worked... and where did you fit in that, in that birth order?

MT: I was the youngest of the four.

TI: And what was the age difference between the siblings?

MT: We were about two years apart.

TI: Okay, so you were the youngest of four children with three older daughters. Okay, so we'll get into that later.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.