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TI: So let's talk about your father a little bit. Can you tell me what your father's name was?

SO: Father's name was, it says on the marriage certificate "Ken Saburo," but later on, he used to name the, he used to use the name Kanesaburo. Kanesaburo, he came to Hawaii January 17, 1907, on the boat Korea-maru. And he came as a plantation sugar cane laborer, and they landed in Okala, Hawaii, on the hillside And there, he signed a three-year contract. A sugar worker's life was very harsh, so he changed that after three years, then he managed to cancel his contract, and they moved to Kona with Mr. Tanaka. Mr. Tanaka, I think, came to Kona. He used to work for, he started working for the Captain Cook Coffee Company, and my father got a job with the W.H. Grinnell Estate Ranch. So he became a cook's helper, and Mr. Grinnell must have asked him to cut his hair. So that's how he learned to be a barber. So after staying home several, three years, he moved out and opened his own barber shop. And in the meantime, in 1914, he got a "picture bride" from his hometown in Nagano, Japan. And he got, he got married in Honolulu in 1914.

TI: And so going back to how your mother was a "picture bride," how was that arranged between your father and your mother? I mean, how, who was the one who decided that she would be a good one?

SO: That, I didn't hear anything about that story, so I'm not familiar with those things.

TI: But they were from the same village? Were they close by?

SO: Close by, close by village. Because he used to live in Furumachi in Nagano, and she's from, she's from Oshima-mura in Nagano.

TI: Well, so let me ask first about your father's family. What kind of work did they do in Japan?

SO: Oh, they were silkworm farmers, so not too much income. That's why he decided that he'll take a chance and then move to Hawaii where, something, new adventure for him. He had a promising job as a plantation worker.

TI: And how about your mother? Do you know what her, the family, your mother's family did?

SO: Well, same, they all did the same, silkworm culture.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.