<Begin Segment 1>

TI: So today is Tuesday, July 7, 2009, and we're in Torrance, California, at the Holiday Inn in a hotel suite. And on camera we have Dana Hoshide, and the interviewer, I'm Tom Ikeda. And so, Aiko, I'm going to just start at the very beginning. Can you tell me when you were born?

AH: I was born August 5, 1924, in Sacramento, California.

TI: And were you born in a health facility or with a midwife, do you know?

AH: I believe it was a midwife, because my birth certificate says midwife -- I think it's a midwife -- Ai Miyazaki. So I didn't see a doctor's name.

TI: Okay, good. And when you were born, what was the name given to you at birth?

AH: Aiko Yoshinaga.

TI: Any middle names or anything like that?

AH: No, not at that time.

TI: Good. Before we talk about your father and mother, can you tell me your siblings kind of in birth order so we can have that?

AH: Yes. I had a couple of half sisters who I never met, because they passed away before I was born. But I had, the chonan, the oldest brother, was Frank Nobukazu, and then two sisters, Aya, next sister Ei, E-I. She didn't have an "Eiko," it was just "Ei."

TI: Oh, interesting.

AH: Another brother Johnny, and I was told that there was a sister between Johnny and me who died at birth. Then I came next, then I had a younger sister, Amy. She had an American name. Actually, Johnny's name was Tsugio, I think that means "second son."

TI: And generally between Frank and Aya, Ei, Johnny, what was the age difference between everyone?

AH: Oh, it was quite a bit. I think I remember figuring out the difference in age between my youngest sister and my oldest brother was, like, twenty-four years. So it was, the space between my second sister and Johnny was bigger because that's the time my father brought the oldest three siblings from Japan. They had been separated for several years, and then my brother was born after my mother and the rest of the family came to California.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.