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TI: How did your father meet your mother?

HM: Oh, that's a real cute story. My dad worked for the railroad. He was a railroad man, not a plantation. He said plantation wasn't his life, so he worked for the railroad after he left the army. And then the train, he was a (brakeman) during pineapple season, and off pineapple he was a, he worked on the passenger train, so the train either went to Kahuku or went to Waihiawa. When it came to Waipahu it swerved off to the right and they went to Waihiawa, and I remember distinctly where the train station was in Wahiawa. You see, back in my mother's days the girls usually went to sewing school or to be a barber or, they used the word houkou, they worked for a haole home and to provide income for the family because there were a lot of siblings. So my mother worked at Schofield as a housemaid, then she had to catch a train to (and from) to Schofield, so that's where she met my dad, on the train. That's a cute story, love story. They met on the train. Yeah, so I, so when I think about the train I always think about, what did my dad think about my mom?

TI: Well that's why I'm curious. So how did that, what happened on the train?

HM: Yeah, that's where they, I don't know whether it was love at first sight or what. I thought that was cute. They didn't have any in-between man. They met on the train. That's a love story, I think.

TI: Now, was your mother, let's talk about your mother now. What was your mother's name?

HM: Itagaki.

TI: And where was she born?

HM: She was born in Halawa, Aiea. You know where the stadium is in Halawa? In just back of that, she was born there.

TI: And how did her family...

HM: They're from Kumamoto. One, the story again is my grandfather was a playboy, too, so they practically threw him out from Kumamoto to let him suffer on his own, to make a man out of him. [Laughs] So this is the story that I, my grandmother told me that he was actually thrown out from Kumamoto to venture on his own, to make a man of the boy, so that's a funny story, but that's how it is.

TI: And so that's how he got to Hawaii?

HM: Yeah, so my grandma really suffered. My grandmother really suffered.

TI: And why was that? How did she suffer?

HM: Because he was a playboy. He didn't want to work. So Grandma really suffered.

TI: So does your, your mother talk about that, too, about her father being sort of a playboy or not really working?

HM: Yeah, so she said, "Okaasan, that's the reason why Grandma, Okaasan worked hard."

KN: What kind of work did she do to help support the family at this time?

HM: Well, having a lot of kids, having babies every year, that was tough on Grandma. Oh, then I skipped it, but they moved to, when they first came from Japan they went to Koloa, Kauai, for three months, so they got off the boat and they were shipped to Koloa, so I guess Grandpa didn't like (Kauai), they came as a free agent, so, free immigration, so they came, that's when they came back to Oahu and they landed up in, worked for Aiea plantation. Yeah, so that's, there was a little period, about three months, they were in Koloa, and they came to Halawa, Aiea plantation.

TI: So it sounds like your mother's family there were quite a few children. She had a lot of brothers and sisters?

HM: Yeah.

TI: How big a family?

HM: There were nine in all and at the, they lost two when they were little, so they ended up with seven. So Mom had to go out to, the top two, my uncle and my mom had to work to help support.

TI: Okay, so she was like the second oldest or the oldest?

HM: She's the oldest daughter.

TI: Oldest daughter. And going back to your father, how large was his family?

HM: His family was large, too. We lost one, so we ended up about, golly, I forgot, but it wasn't as big as my mom's family, but we lost, I lost an aunt when she was real little.

TI: Okay. So, so let me, your mother's first name was, one more --

HM: Matsue.

TI: Matsue, and your father's first name was?

HM: Kiyohide.

TI: Okay, and they met on the train.

HM: Yeah, it's a real cute love story, I think.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.