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TI: So let's get to that story, so she gets all the papers and then she comes to America.

FC: And lands in San Francisco and goes through that whole process. Somebody said that my mother had some kind of illness, I think an eye infection or something. My sister had mentioned that recently and I was not aware of it, but anyway --

TI: But how would she find out? Like through the documentation?

FC: I think my mother's oral story she related to my sister.

TI: I see. Okay.

FC: And so he had to stay there for a while. You know, in those days the Issei men had to go and claim their wives, and they only had a photograph and so they'd be standing in line looking over this photograph hoping that they selected the right one. [Laughs]

TI: Well, conversely, the women had a photograph too, and when they came off, my understanding is that sometimes the men, it wasn't always as accurate as...

FC: Sometimes it wasn't even the photograph of the real man. [Laughs]

TI: Exactly. Or if they, if they did take the picture, it was them, they would oftentimes take it in front of a big house or something that made them look more prominent.

FC: Yes. Maybe they worked there as a butler or a gardener, and they wrote home saying, "This is where, this is my home."

TI: "This is where I live." [Laughs] Right.

FC: There were all kinds of stories like that.

TI: Your mother, when she was going through the process, was this Angel Island?

FC: Yes.

TI: Okay. Any, do you recall any stories about Angel Island?

FC: She never did say anything about that, but I'm pretty sure it was Angel Island.

TI: Okay. So she has to stay there for a little bit for medical reasons.

FC: Yes.

TI: And then, but eventually she and your father meet. Any stories about that?

FC: And he says to her, "You're not as good looking as your photograph." [Laughs]

TI: Oh my. And that wasn't a joke? Was it, back then that's probably not, he probably just said that.

FC: Yes. She agreed. She did say that, he said that's what he told her, and she said, yeah, that's how she remembered it. So he was, he acted like he was okay with it, but he wasn't particularly pleased. So then they, I don't know exactly what, where he was in terms of his career, but they were pretty smart because when they came to Los Angeles she went to work as a domestic in a Caucasian home to learn English, to hear English language and also to taste some of the American foods. So I think she worked as a domestic for about a year. In the meantime he's getting himself settled. I think he, I don't know if he, I think he rented a house someplace in Boyle Heights.

TI: At this point was your father, he was in the wholesale produce business?

FC: I think he was in the wholesale produce business by then.

TI: On his own, or working for someone?

FC: I'm not really sure. I'm not really sure. But he was pretty much determined that this was where he wanted to become settled. And someplace, by the time I was born, he was already in the markets. I have a sister that's six years older, and I think he already was in the market when she was a toddler.

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