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AI: Great. Well, thank you very much. It's March 15th. We're here in Seattle, Washington, at the home of Ms. Louise Kashino and I'm the interviewer, Alice Ito, for the Densho Project. Thanks very much.

LK: You're welcome.

AI: And I wanted to just ask you to start out kind of at the beginning with your parents and if you could tell me their names and where they're from in Japan?

LK: My father was Kakichi Tsuboi and my mother was Tamiye Yokoyama is her maiden name and they both came from Shodo-shima, Kagawa-ken.

AI: Oh, and whereabouts is that in Japan?

LK: It's a small island south of say, Okayama, between Honshu and the lower.

AI: And did, did you know anything about what their families did in Japan before they came over?

LK: I think my father said they were just very poor farmers, so this is the one reason he came to America.

AI: And about what time was that?

LK: Oh, it must have been in the mid-19-, maybe '14, '15, '16, I don't know exactly. Never did pin him down.

AI: Right. And then when were they married?

LK: 1919. I think my father went over there. They had picked a bride for him and got married to my mother and because of their strict physical examinations or something, my mother was delayed about a year to come back to America. I think that was probably about 1920 that she arrived.

AI: And so then did they come directly here after she arrived, come up here to Seattle then?

LK: To Seattle, uh-huh.

AI: And do you know what they were doing at that time, how they were making a living?

LK: I don't know what my father did, but before that he had gone to Alaska and he had worked in the sawmills in the, like Aberdeen, or in that area somewhere. And then I think when he came, when my mother came, well, then he worked at odd jobs like at Furuya, department store or Sagamiya, a little... they made pastries. I think he just picked up odd jobs where he could until he started his own produce vending business.

AI: And what did he do as a vendor, produce vendor?

LK: Oh, he'd pick up these fresh vegetables and fruits on this truck and then he'd go to sell in the neighborhoods where... he'd go through the alleys, and then people would come out and buy from him, and he had kind of a regular route. I remember going with him once in the Madrona -- Mt. Baker area. So...

AI: Well, now tell me, you had some older siblings and also some younger. So could you tell me when they were born?

LK: My older sister Hideko, she was born 1921 and the next brother was Frank Tsuboi and he is, was born 1924. And then I came along '26 and then my younger brother, Henry, is 1928, my brother Roy is 1930 and my youngest sister Esther is, was 1931. Six kids.

AI: So your parents were very busy.

LK: Busy.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.