<Begin Segment 23>

MA: And you had three children. Can you tell me their names and when they were born?

NM: Carol was born October 7, 1951. Alan was born April 19, 1953. And Joyce was born October 7, 1956. They were born the same day, they were all born on a Sunday.

MA: Oh, really? As your kids were growing up, did you speak Japanese with them, or like any Japanese traditions that --

NM: No, no we didn't. We all had, the neighbor was all Caucasian so they had Caucasian friends. And some of them were from German background, and all that. So they were good friends, like when, when they play war, they said, "We're good friends with you because we were Germans, and you were Japanese and all that." We're still good friends. In fact, we're going to see one of them this weekend in Wyoming.

MA: And you have some grandchildren as well.

NM: Uh-huh, I have four. Three girls which are sisters (...). And then my oldest daughter has Matthew.

MA: And did your children stay around Denver, the Denver area?

NM: Well, Carol moved to San Francisco for a while and then she came back.

MA: So I'm curious about your sister again. I wanted to talk with her, or talk about her. And can you talk about meeting her for the first time and the circumstances about getting together with her? And what that reunion was like?

NM: Oh, we never met yet.

MA: Oh, you never met.

NM: Kara did. But we've never met.

MA: Oh, but you've tried to meet over the years.

NM: Oh, I think we tried three times. And each time, I was so excited and then something happened and it was really disappointing.

MA: And have you been able to keep in touch with her over the years?

NM: Just on birthdays and Christmas. But she would write to Kara, because they met in Osaka. So she really likes Kara, or something like that. She feels close to Kara.

MA: Did she talk about, at all, to Kara or to your brother, or to you, about what it was like for her after the war and growing up in those circumstances?

NM: Well, like I told you, when they first landed in Japan, she had to sit on the hard cement while her father went scrounging for food. And during that time, until my stepfather got married, I don't know what really happened. Except, when she first started school, the kids would tease her because she was older and bigger and they'd throw plums at her and all that. She, I don't know how she felt, but I could just imagine. And then when she got older, I think she, she must have found out that she had a brother and a sister and aunts and uncles and cousins and so forth.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.