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TI: Okay, so around 1915, so let's talk about how he met your, your mother, and how did...

TH: How he met her, that I have no idea, except that apparently, when the 1924 Exclusion Act was imminent, then he went back to Japan to marry my mother, and he was in Japan when the, (when) was that, (...) was that 1924? The big Kanto earthquake. So they survived that and then they came back to United States, landing in United States about two, three days before the July 1st date fell and kept the people out, the Japanese, the Asians out, basically.

TI: So they, they got in just under the, the gun kind of, under the, before that happened. So tell me your mother's name.

TH: Name, and it's N-A-M-E.

TI: And do you, how about maiden name, do you know?

TH: Hirano.

TI: Hirano, okay. And do you know, tell me a little bit about your mother's family. Do you know what they were doing?

TH: No, not, not... well I guess they were merchants, because during the earthquake, the building collapsed on her, and the way, apparently, they set the building up was that instead of having shelves up around three feet high, they dug trenches, and so the (...) shelves were then at ground level and you were then standing really three feet below the ground level. This is the way, apparently, they displayed the merchandise. And so when the building collapsed, well, she was in that three foot deep ditch, and so she was then saved by that. And then the neighbors came around and were able to rip open the roof and get her out, but there were other cases where apparently they couldn't rip out the roof or remove the timber, and apparently quite a number of people who survived the earthquake then died in the fire that followed.

TI: I've never heard that. So in their store, they actually... you know, like most people, they have a floor and then the shelves go up, but in this case they actually dug these, these sort of...

TH: Ditches.

TI: Ditches. And they were wide enough so that people could walk down there and get things.

TH: (Yes).

TI: Do you know why it was done that way?

TH: I think probably from an economic reason. You didn't have to build a house or the store up higher. This is the way I would see that.

TI: Okay, and was that a pretty common... back then?

TH: That I don't know, but my guess is probably yes.

TI: Okay. So they get married, they come 1924, right before the Immigration Act. You're born 1925, so I'm guessing you're the firstborn?

TH: Yes, I'm the firstborn.

TI: Let's, let's talk about your siblings. So you're firstborn, 1925, why don't you just walk through your, your siblings?

TH: Okay. My sister was two years later, which would be '27, and then came my brother.

TI: Well, so your sister's name is Yoko?

TH: Yoko. And then my brother Hiroshi, I think was born, again, two years later. And then the next was Toshiko and then Kazuko and Kiyoko, about two years apart.

TI: Good, so there's six, six children

TH: Six children, correct.

TI: Two boys, four girls?

TH: Yes.

TI: Okay.

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