<Begin Segment 4>

TI: How did your mother and father meet? How was it decided that they would get married?

SI: Well, it just so happens that my father was from Nagano-ken, and my mother from Yamaguchi. That's quite a distance, you know, between the two prefectures. But my mother's brother happened to be a schoolmate of my father while they were going to the university. So that's how they got their introduction, through my uncle.

TI: So it doesn't sound like a traditional arranged marriage. Was it more of an arrangement in terms of an attraction between the two?

SI: I don't know exactly. I can't really say. But I believe that they were going to meet and find out if they even were attracted to each other. And when they found out it was okay, they went ahead and got married.

TI: Now, how would you describe, first, your mother? What kind of personality would you say your mother had?

SI: Well, I would say my mother was probably, being the eldest sister in the family, and I think they had about five or six children in their family also, she had to assume the role of the elder sister, take care of the little ones. And from what I understand, in those days, you had to walk quite a ways, travel quite a ways to go to your schools. From what I understand, she had to take a train to go to the next station, walk quite a few minutes to get to a school each day. I know that after experiencing everything that she did, that she's probably, I would consider, the hero in the family. I say that because I believe she's the one that kept the family together. And this I could tell you later on in the story.

TI: Yeah, let's talk about that later on. But just in terms of her personality, it sounds like she was very, maybe, responsible? Was she a little more serious?

SI: I would say that, yes, she was a very responsible person, very strong in character, being able to handle seven children. [Laughs]

TI: Good, okay. How about your father. How would you describe your father?

SI: I think that my father, coming from Japan, was a very democratic thinker. And he's open to many, many things. Actually, even the fact that he aspired to go to the United States from Japan indicates to me that he was a very free spirit in that sense. And he seemed to have been one that adopted democratic practices very quickly.

TI: Oh, that's interesting. So, was he well-read? Did he like to read a lot?

SI: I think that he read quite well. He had a library of books, which he kept. And many of them are very difficult books on religion. He kept the Holy Bible and the Buddhist sutras side by side on the bookshelf, which indicates to me that he's very open in his thinking, and he's able to see and view things from different perspectives.

TI: Oh, that's interesting. That's good.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.