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MN: Okay, today is August 31, 2010. We are at the Centenary United Methodist Church and in the room we have Archie Atsufumi Miyatake and Takeko Mayeda Miyatake. Dana Hoshide is on video, and I will be interviewing and my name is Martha Nakagawa. Now Archie, since your grandfather first came to United States, can you tell us what his name was?

AM: His name was Jundo, and the way he came over here was, it was 1904 or '05 that he came over here, but he went to San Francisco. And he was, I don't know what kind of work he was doing, but anyway, after the 1916 earthquake he decided to move to Los Angeles, so that's when he came to Los Angeles and he opened up a confectionary store in Little Tokyo. He called it Shofudo and the address was 333 East First Street. I remember that 'cause it was such an easy number to remember, so... this, the reason he came over to United States was to make some money and then go back to Japan. Well, after few years running the confectionary store, one year he stocked up on the mochigome for, for the season and what happened was he bought quite a bit of it and then the price went up so high and he made a lot of money, so he decided to go back to Japan, which was his plan anyway, and so he left the business to his oldest son, who took over the business. And so my father went, my grandfather went back to Japan in nineteen, about 1927 or '8, and then he settled in Shikoku Island where he came from, the prefecture of Kagawa ken. And the name of the town was Zensuji. And then around 1929 or '30 my grandfather became very ill, so when he was living in Japan, I mean, United States, his first wife passed away.

MN: Before we get there, let me first ask about your father, because he did not go into the confectionary business like your older, the uncle did.

AM: Yeah.

MN: Let's first, let me ask what your father's name is.

AM: Okay. Since my grandfather had my, his, my uncle take over the business so he could retire to go back to Japan, my father always had a dream of opening a photo studio because he liked photography so much.

MN: But for the record, tell me what your father's name is.

AM: My father's name is Toyo Miyatake.

MN: What is your mother's name?

AM: Hiro Miyatake.

MN: Tell me the story of why your mother's maiden name was also Miyatake.

AM: Okay. My grandfather lost his first wife and she passed away in Los Angeles, so after they had the funeral, I don't know how many years afterward, but anyway, he wanted to get married again, so he talked with a baishakunin and had a, and this baishakunin found another lady who was widowed with some children, and so she was interested in coming to United States, so my grandfather decided to marry her. Well, when he got married and then she, this second wife came with this, with this one daughter, her name was Hiro Miyatake, because she was her, her mother was married to a Miyatake and was a widow, so when she came to meet my grandfather, he brought Hiro Miyatake with her, with him. So my father was looking for somebody to get married to and then I guess he wanted to get married to her, so they got, they were able to get married.

MN: So your father married your grandfather's second wife's daughter?

AM: Yeah. Right. [Laughs]

MN: Now, when were you born?

AM: I was born in 1924.

MN: And where were you born?

AM: Los Angeles.

MN: In Little Tokyo?

AM: Yes. In fact, there was a little, a house behind where my grandfather started his confectionary store and while they were still living there, my mother became pregnant, so I was born right in Little Tokyo in that little house with a midwife. And this midwife, her name was Hiraga and I've known her for many years and she, of course, she passed away already, but she always used to call me "Achi, Achi" and, well, I had a real close tie with this lady. In fact, she had a son who was a sumo wrestler and I've known him for a long time, and he used to do sumo when the Japanese Town had a sumo wrestling place. And of course, this sumo -- dojo, they call it -- was gone after a while because Parker Center took over the section of where all these things were in Little Tokyo, so sumo dojo is gone now, but used to have it there.

MN: That's, yeah, that was, the sumo dojo disappeared after the war, isn't that right?

AM: Yes.

MN: Now, going back to your story, how many children did your parents have?

AM: Myself, and then I had a younger brother named Bob who also went into photography, and he graduated from Arts Center College. He graduated there and then he went to New York to work for a fashion photographer for a few years. Then he came back and he was with, working for my father for a long time. And then he got a job; the Arts Center College where he went to study photography offered him a job to teach there, so he was teaching there for quite a few years until he retired. Yeah.

MN: And then who comes after Bob?

AM: My youngest brother, his name was Richard. Of course, he passed away when he was only sixty-four, but, I kind of miss him, but anyway, that's what happened. He was also working for my father, too, so the three brothers, three sons that he had, all worked for my father. And my father, my brother, my next brother, of course, he went to Arts Center College where he was working for the studio, and after he graduated, he went to New York to work for a fashion photographer and then he came back and was teaching at Arts Center College until he retired.

MN: Then who came after Richard?

AM: No, he was the youngest.

MN: But you had a sister, right?

AM: Oh yeah, my, I had a younger sister that was below my brother Richard.

MN: What, what is her name?

AM: Minnie Miyatake. And she's married to Reverend Takashi's son. His name is Edward Takashi who's an architect and he has his own firm right now doing his architecture work.

MN: There's a big age gap between you and your brother Bob.

AM: Yes.

MN: When was Bob born?

AM: He was born in 1930.

MN: So there's a six year --

AM: Six year difference, yes. After Bob, the next brother after Bob, there's a big gap, too, because... I think we went to Japan in the meantime and we spent three years in Japan, and the reason that we were in Japan was because when my grandfather went back to Japan and retired he bought some homes and he was doing quite well, but he became ill, so he asked one of the sons to come back to help. So the oldest son, who would've gone back, but he was given the responsibility to run the business, so my father decided he better go back, so we, my father decided to take the whole family back to Japan.

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