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MN: Okay, today is April 7, 2011, Thursday. We are at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco. We will be interviewing Reverend Lloyd Wake. Dana Hoshide is on the video camera, and I will be interviewing. My name is Martha Nakagawa. Now, Reverend Wake, can we start with your father's name?

LW: Yempei Wake, Y-E-M-P-E-I.

MN: And your mother's name?

LW: Hisayo.

MN: And she is also a Wake, maiden name?

LW: Yes.

MN: Can you explain, share with us why she's also a Wake?

LW: There are a lot of Wakes in that particular area. She grew up in Okayama, near Okayama, which is, what is now Okayama city, and seems to be a gathering place for the Wake clan from ancient days, so she was also a Wake. I'm assuming that she was always a Wake, but we know that her mother died, her parents died at an early age and was cared for by another family, so I don't know if she adopted the adopters' name or remained as a Wake even though her parents died.

MN: And both of your parents are from Okayama prefecture?

LW: Yes.

MN: Now when did your father come to the United States?

LW: It was in 1906.

MN: And where did he land and what did he do?

LW: He eventually, after coming into California, San Francisco, he moved down to Fresno, California, Central Valley.

MN: Do you know what he did there?

LW: Well, he started out, he was a young man at that time, so he was looking for almost any kind of job, and as I understand it he, he was a janitor in one of the department stores, and later he became a, almost like an important young man in a clothing store, Henry Dermer Clothing Store. That was something I learned later in life, but he did whatever job was available to young immigrants from, from Japan.

MN: But he must've been doing pretty well, because he decided to get married a few years later.

LW: Yes. He... I checked the records and they were officially married in Japan two years before she came and came to San Francisco, and they were married here in San Francisco by, as a U.S., I guess a U.S. marriage, even though I think they were officially married two years prior, in Japan.

MN: Now, when you say officially married, that's to register in the koseki, the family register?

LW: Yes.

MN: And so you said they came to the United States and also had a marriage ceremony?

LW: Yes.

MN: What kind of marriage ceremony was this?

LW: It was in the Christian church, in the Methodist church here in San Francisco. The Methodist church began ministry rather early to particular, specifically for Japanese immigrants. At that time they were primarily men, so along with the church, they ran an English language school along with the church services.

MN: Do you know if your parents were Christians at that time?

LW: They must've been. Even though I did not check it out, I assume that they were influenced in some way by Christian missionaries in Japan, had some kind of contact so that when they came here to the U.S. they continued that relationship.

MN: Do you know if they, either your father or mother went through Angel Island?

LW: As far as I know they did not go through Angel Island.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.