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TI: So let's go to your mother. So where in Japan, where was she from?

KT: In the same village, and the same prefecture. And actually, when I was down there, I met my uncle on her side, and that's where I take after my baldness. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, so you saw the family, the baldness on the...

KT: Right, it was on my mother's side of the family. Both Tosh and Mas never had to worry, they had plenty of hair. [Laughs]

TI: That's funny. So how did your mother and father meet? How did they come to get married?

KT: That part is kind of hazy. I think it was a picture, "picture bride." Because it was really funny, after my mother died, my father, when all of us were together, he told us that he was actually married three times. And when he made that announcement, us kids, we all looked at each other. "Are we all, are we stepbrothers?" He said, no, we're all children from his third, third wife, my mother. And then he explained that the first one, his first wife, the marriage was actually annulled because her brother died and they wanted my dad to assume the, their family name. And at that time, my grandfather put his foot down, he said, "No, he's the chonan of the family, he is not changing his name." So they had that marriage annulled. And the second wife died very shortly, before there was any children, because I'm not, I don't think he ever said he had children by these other two women.

TI: So that must have been a surprise when...

KT: It really was a surprise. I remember our faces, we all, "What? What?" [Laughs] Big shock, and we all started saying, "Are we the same?"

TI: That's interesting. Do you recall how they met, though? You mentioned maybe a "picture bride"? It was a little hazy, you mentioned.

KT: I think it probably was an arranged marriage, because my mother's family were all, lived in the same prefecture. And I think, in a sense, was she really a "picture bride"? I guess, yeah, you might say that.

TI: Do you know what kind of work her family did in Japan?

KT: They were farmers, too.

TI: And do you know about what year your mother came to the United States?

KT: I think, well, my mom... oh. Tosh is five years older than me, so she must have been here... wait. My sister Haruko was born over here, too.

TI: Eight years.

KT: She was here at least ten years before I was born.

TI: So like late teens, like, 1918, 1919, around there.

KT: Yeah.

TI: And just in terms of what your parents were like, let's start with your mother. How would you describe her in terms of personality? What kind of person was she?

KT: Well, my mom was really a typical Japanese wife, I guess, very, very obedient to the family. But she was a saver, my dad was a spender. I remember we used to have a hotel, and my mom always was managing the money, and she managed to squire away, set aside money that my dad never knew about. And one of the incident I remember is when they went back to Japan, because my mom died in Japan. When she was over and she got ill... how did it start? This is after I was born, they were here, and then they went back for a visit. And when she got off, shortly after... I don't know whether the accident occurred on board ship or not, but something happened to her and she was taken seriously ill. And I remember her trying to convey the message to my dad that she had money hidden in her skirts, to tell my dad that the money was there in case... she knew she was gonna, she might not survive, so she told him that. And then another incident I remember was when my sister was old enough and got out of school and got a job, my dad insisted as long as she was living with the family, she should pay some sort of a rent. And she, my sister would always be paying these rent monthly, and my mother kept all that money aside. And I remember just before they were gonna leave for Japan, she brought all this money out and gave it to my sister and told her, "This was the money that you paid as rent." And she says, "We do not charge rent for our own family," and gave all the money to her. My sister was really surprised because that was quite a big chunk of money that she had accumulated. And my dad probably didn't know about it. [Laughs]

TI: So it was kind of like a for savings that she did.

KT: Right, right.

TI: So what, how old were you when your mother went to Japan that next time and died? Do you remember how old you were?

KT: Let's see. I guess it must have been... my mom did not see my graduation from college, so had to be, I graduated in '51, so I think she died in, around the '50s, 1950s.

TI: Okay. So this was after the war when you were in college that this happened.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.