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MA: Today is Wednesday, July 8, 2009, and Densho is here in Torrance, California. I'm Megan Asaka, and I will be interviewing Lillian Nakano today, and Dana Hoshide is the cameraperson. So, Lillian, thank you so much for doing this interview.

LN: Oh, not at all.

MA: I wanted to start by asking just a few basic questions.

LN: Okay.

MA: Where were you born?

LN: Honolulu, Hawaii.

MA: And when were you born?

LN: 1928.

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

LN: I believe it was the same, Lillian Reiko.

MA: Lillian Reiko.

LN: Uh-huh. Because my parents were Nisei, so I guess they will do that. They started out with the English and the Japanese name.

MA: And what's your maiden name?

LN: Sugita.

MA: Sugita, okay. And how many siblings did you have?

LN: There were four of us girls and one brother.

MA: And were you the oldest girl?

LN: Yes, uh-huh.

MA: And I wanted to ask a little bit about your father. What was his name and where was he born and what was his background?

LN: Oh, his name is Saburo, Saburo Sugita. And he's an older Nisei in Hawaii. The Niseis start much sooner than on the mainland. So, and he was always a very enterprising... he eventually, when they left from Kauai to Honolulu, eventually he became a businessman, and he's been that ever since.

MA: Do you know what his parents, the work they did in Kauai?

LN: Oh, they were plantation. They had to work on the plantation, his parents. And he did a little bit, too, but he was very young.

MA: And then he moved to Oahu?

LN: Yes, he was glad to go to Honolulu, because he wanted to see all the possibilities there. He was always very... he always looked forward to what else he could do. So he was very excited about leaving Kauai.

MA: And what about your mother? What was her name?

LN: My mother is also a Nisei, Shizuno Sugita. And she was, well, her maiden name was Nakamura. She was a Nisei, and, in a way, born at the wrong time, there were a lot of Niseis. She wanted to go to, she wanted to be, go into education and become a doctor of something. But in those days, you don't do that. So I think she was somewhat frustrated, the whole women's question. It was a kind of underlying thing. But other than that, yeah, she was very quiet, very intelligent woman. And she stayed in the background because that was the custom then. My father was a businessman, he was very active, so she pretty much just supported him.

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