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MA: Okay, so today is July 4, 2008, and I'm here with Yae Aihara. I'm Megan Asaka, the interviewer, and the cameraperson today is Dana Hoshide, and we are at the Japanese American National Museum Conference in Denver, Colorado. So, thank you so much for doing this interview with us.

YA: You're welcome.

MA: So I wanted to start with just some basic questions. When were you born?

YA: August 18, 1925.

MA: And where were you born?

YA: In Tacoma, Washington.

MA: And what was the name given to you at birth?

YA: Yaeko Kanogawa.

MA: And a little bit about your family background. What was your father's name?

YA: Sho, S-H-O.

MA: Sho Kanogawa?

YA: Uh-huh.

MA: Do you know where he was from in Japan?

YA: Wakayama.

MA: Wakayama-ken. What did... do you know what his family did, in Japan, for a living?

YA: Oh, they were landowners, farmers.

MA: And do you know why he came to the U.S.? What his motivations were?

YA: He was the third son. See, in those days, only the oldest son can inherit property. And since he was the third son, there was no chance for him. So he immigrated.

MA: Okay. Do you know kind of what, what jobs he did when he first came to the U.S.?

YA: I think he worked in a trading company. Because he had a little college, but he worked at a trading company.

MA: And did he settle in Tacoma when he first came?

YA: No, no. He was in... see, my younger brother was born in Puyallup, and my sister was born in Tacoma, too, I think. So, from Tacoma we moved to Seattle.

MA: Oh, okay.

YA: My earliest recollections are of Seattle, when my youngest brother was born.

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