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TI: So today is Saturday June 12, 2010, and we're in Honolulu at the Ala Moana Hotel. On the camera is Dana Hoshide and on, I'm interviewing, Tom Ikeda -- I'm the interviewer, Tom Ikeda. And so today we have Masa Kitajima, but, so the first question is can you just tell me where and when you were born?

MK: I was born in Hawaii, August 1, 1933 in Ookala, Hawaii.

TI: And do you know if you were born at a medical facility, or at home, or like a midwife?

MK: I was -- well, my dad had gone to look for a midwife at home, for my mother, and he got lost someplace and somehow the midwife come over to see Mom, but by the time she came over I was already born. So she just took care of the, taking care of after the birth.

TI: So your mother had to do it by herself?

MK: She did it by herself, yes. She always said that Dad was always unreliable for those things because he would purposely disappear. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, that's -- but everything was fine?

MK: Yeah, everything was fine. In fact, I had five, four other brothers and sisters after that, so I guess my birth was okay.

TI: Good. So August 1, 1933, so that means you're about, what, seventy-seven years old?

MK: I am now seventy-seven, yes.

TI: Seventy-seven, okay. And when you were born, what was the name given to you at birth?

MK: Masamizu Kitajima. I had no middle name.

TI: You talked about your father a little bit as getting lost, so tell me a little bit about your father. What was his name?

MK: My father's name was Shoyu Kitajima. His, it's written like Masao, same as Masao, but when he was ordained as a minister his name was converted to Shoyu Kitajima.

TI: And where was your father from in Japan?

MK: My father and mother both came from Saga, Japan. Saga city.

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