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MN: Okay. Today is Tuesday, February 23, 2010, we're here at the Courtyard Marriott with Dana Hoshide on video, Tom Ikeda and Frank Hirata, and myself, Martha Nakagawa. Frank, I'm gonna start by asking you the name of your paternal grandfather.

FH: Okay. It was Kamenosuke Hirata, or Hirata Kamenosuke.

MN: And then what is your father's name?

FH: Hajime Hirata, or Hubert Hirata in English.

MN: Do you know how he got the name Hubert?

FH: I don't know, but maybe Hajime starts with an H, and so he got that name, I don't know.

MN: And your mother's name?

FH: Shin, maiden name was Yoshizawa.

MN: And what prefecture did your father and mother come from?

FH: Okayama.

MN: Now, your grandfather was the first to come to the United States. Can you share with us how he ended up in Spokane, Washington?

FH: Well, there, as a matter of fact, from the village that we lived in Japan, there were quite a few that migrated to the United States. And in those days, there was the railroad west from the middle west to the East Coast. And you know, Spokane is one of the key locations, because three lines, the Northern Pacific, and Milwaukee, and I forgot the other one, but three of them just converged at Spokane, and then from there diverted north and south to the West Coast, Seattle and Portland and so forth.

MN: Now, your grandfather, after working in the railroads, what did he do after that?

FH: He operated hotels. He got hotels and once my dad was operating about three hotels in Spokane.

MN: How old was your father when your grandfather called your father to the United States?

FH: He was fifteen years of age.

MN: And your father, once he got here, he helped your grandfather in the hotel business, is that correct?

FH: Correct, yes.

MN: And you said he also went to night school. Where did he go in Spokane?

FH: He went to the Gonzaga University, that's a Jesuit university.

MN: And why did he go... did he go to learn English, or why did he go to night school?

FH: Well, he was operating the hotel. And in the hotel business, you have to know the laws as to how to evict the tenants of wrongdoing and so forth, things like that. So he took a course at that school.

MN: And then your father decided he wanted to get married, and he went back to Japan. Do you know how old he was when he got married?

FH: I don't know, but I was born in 1925, and so maybe a couple of years before that.

MN: And your mother did not immediately come with your father to the United States. Why is that so?

FH: Well, because my grandmother, with my dad's, both my uncle and so forth, was farming. And I don't know about the legal matters and so forth, but anyway, she stayed there to help my grandmother and so forth in Japan.

MN: She stayed with your father's family?

FH: That's right, yes.

MN: The in-laws?

FH: Right, uh-huh.

MN: How long was she there with the in-laws?

FH: Maybe a couple of years, about one or two years.

MN: So now your mother comes over, and your family is managing a hotel, and that's when you were born.

FH: Yes.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.