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SY: And about, and your mother, was she the only one in her family who came to this country?

EN: Yes.

SY: And do you know why she decided to come?

EN: Because she'd married my dad.

SY: Oh, they married in Japan.

EN: Yes. There was a great earthquake in Japan, and after my father had lost his wife and children he joined the Salvation Army, and I believe that was in San Francisco, and I don't know how he decided to go there, but that's, I believe that's where he joined the Salvation Army. So he joined the group that traveled to Japan on the relief program, and apparently he was introduced to my mother there in Yamanashi ken.

SY: And your mother was, what was she doing at the time?

EN: She was a kindergarten teacher at a missionary school. And so apparently when he proposed she told him, "Well, I'm not going to marry a man who's gonna be gallivanting all over the country, all over the world," and he so he quit the Salvation Army.

SY: Which was, was that considered a fairly good job at that time?

EN: I have no idea. [Laughs]

SY: But he was willing to settle down for her.

EN: Yes, so then he brought her back to Venice and joined his brother.

SY: And I love the fact that you came to Venice, California, because it was probably not, well, I don't know, do you remember, were there very many Japanese Americans living in Venice at the time?

EN: Well, not where we, we lived just a block from the ocean, and my father and his brother had concessions on the Venice amusement pier, which is quite an unusual occupation, I'm sure, for Issei at that time.

SY: Right. And your father's brother had already started this business?

EN: Yes, I believe so. So my father joined him, and I don't know how many years later, but his brother retired and returned to Japan with his family so my father carried on the business after he left. So he and my mother carried on the business.

SY: I see.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.