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TI: So the way I start this is just the date and where we are, so today's Thursday, June 10, 2010. We're at the Hilo Hawaiian, and in the room we have several people. We have your sister, Mrs. Tanimoto, and your niece, Carol Ikeda. On the camera we have Dana Hoshide, and I'm the interviewer Tom Ikeda. So Mrs. Hagiwara, thank you for joining us. So let me just start at the beginning. Can you tell me where and when you were born?

HH: I was born in Hilo, Hawaii.

TI: And what was your birthdate?

HH: March 25, 1928.

TI: And do you know where you were born? Were you born...

HH: Oh, right at, on Kilauea Avenue in town, Hilo, Hawaii.

TI: So was this by a midwife?

HH: Midwife, I think.

TI: So was that pretty common, to be born by midwife?

HH: At that time, yeah.

TI: By any chance, do you know the name of the midwife?

HH: I did, but I can't remember. She's gone, but she did most of the townspeople, I think.

TI: Okay, good. So let's, let me start with your father. Can you tell me your father's name?

HH: Minoru Murakami.

TI: And do you know what part of Japan, where he came from?

HH: Yamaguchi. Iwakuni? He came from Yamaguchi, Iwakuni?

Off-camera voice: Yamaguchi, Hashirano.

HH: Oh, Hashirano.

TI: And do you know what kind of work or business his family did in Japan?

HH: I read someplace where the mother's family had a lumberyard. He was, you know, a schoolboy, while he was in Japan. His father had immigrated to Hawaii, so he was left with his mother's parents, but in the meantime the father passed away because Hawaii had an epidemic or something, so he never saw his father.

TI: Okay.

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