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MA: So let's talk a little bit about your parents, your mother and father. What was your father's name?

KB: His name was Kinuta (Uno).

MA: And where was he from in Japan?

KB: He was from Okayama Prefecture.

MA: And do you know what his family did in Japan, in Okayama?

KB: I think he lived in a small village, and they were involved with farming, orchards and rice paddies and that type of thing.

MA: And then do you happen to know his motivations for coming to the U.S. or why he came to the U.S.?

KB: Well, I asked him one time why he came to the United States, and he said that he wanted to get an education, and perhaps return to Japan. That didn't happen, but that was, I think, part of the idea of his coming to Japan. I read a little bit about the history of that area, of that time in Japan, and there was kind of a depression, I'm not sure if it was exactly a depression, but the economic times were rather harsh at that time in this particular area, the Chugoku area, Hiroshima, Okayama. And so the Americans actually went to recruit some workers, maybe to work in the railroads or in the, on the farms, and so they encouraged these Japanese young people to come to the United States, and maybe that influenced him, I don't know. He never talked about that part.

MA: Do you know how old he was when he came over?

KB: Not exactly sure how old he was, but he was in his teens.

MA: So young, very young.

KB: Uh-huh.

MA: And what did he do when he first came to Seattle or to the Northwest?

KB: Well, there were people from the same area in Okayama already in Seattle, and I think he just joined them, and they were mostly settled in the south part of Seattle and on farms.

MA: So when he came to the U.S., he went directly to South Park?

KB: Yes, I think so, as far as I know.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.