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KN: Can you describe, first, what is your dad's name, your father's name, and can you describe, you said he was a very hard-working man, so I'm thinking and imagining him back in Okinawa and thinking, looking for opportunities. And why would he go to somewhere like Peru out of all the other places that he could possibly immigrate to?

MY: Well, from Okinawa to Peru they were asking for immigrants. And, of course, being seventeen years old, the excitement of traveling, too. And then of course, going to Kauai wasn't by choice, and he was poor, worked hard. But the nice part about it, he always said it's a blessing in disguise. And he really had a positive attitude, I mean, sense of humor. So I find that very, like our childhood was... although we were poor, but a lot of fun. He'd always joke around.

KN: Could you describe your father's family? Was he the only son, was he the second son? And sorry, what was his name? Sorry, I missed that.

MY: Oh, yes. Toshio. Toshio Yamasato. In Peru, he was called Alejandro.

KN: Can I ask why?

MY: Well, you need a Spanish name, right? So his name was Alejandro.

KN: Not Tomas?

MY: Well, there's lot of Tomas. But I wish he'd named me Alejandro instead of Manuel, but anyway... he had two brothers, and they also moved to Peru later. And they still, of course, lived there and died there, but they weren't shipped over to internment camp because they weren't married at that time.

KN: So your father, was he the eldest?

MY: Yes, he was.

KN: And his family, that's interesting that your, the family allowed him to immigrate as the eldest son. Usually, in many families, it's always the second son or the third son. So your father goes to Peru. Did he speak Spanish or did he take Spanish classes, language classes before he actually went, or he just, "I'm gonna go there and I'm going to make a living"?

MY: Yes, the attitude was just go there and make a living. And he spoke fluent Spanish. So he'd help me out when I took Spanish in high school.

KN: Really?

MY: Yeah, because he spoke fluent Spanish, and yeah, he could communicate with anybody in Spanish.

KN: So I imagine your dad, he's this Japanese immigrant coming from Okinawa, and then he's going to Peru. And he opens up, you mentioned, actually, a number of businesses, a restaurant and dry goods store. What kind of restaurant was it? Was it one that featured Okinawan delicacies or more Peruvian food?

MY: Yeah, it was more Peruvian, and it was a small restaurant, cafe, not a big restaurant. More like a, yeah, cafe.

KN: And the other store you mentioned was a dry goods store. So what kind of items were sold there and who did it cater to? Was it for Peruvians, was it for the immigrants?

MY: It was more for Peruvians, imported things, items from I don't know where. But I remember more fabric, dry goods. Interesting part was -- I'm sorry.

KN: No, go ahead.

MY: Interesting part was my wife and I went over to Peru twice. Of course, we went to see the place where he had his store, the dry goods. And right now it's like a ghetto. So like my dad said, "Oh, it's good that we came over to Hawaii."

KN: So here's your dad, a self-made man, and he didn't want to marry any of the Japanese Nisei women that were actually there, he said he wanted to go back to Okinawa to meet a beautiful woman. Why would he go back to Okinawa to look for a wife? Why not meet a nice Nisei that might have been born there?

MY: Oh, you mean something that I did? I mean, I didn't go to Okinawa to find my wife. [Laughs] No, anyway, that's a good question. I don't know, I should have asked him why. I think it would be exciting to see him marry a Latin American, right? But...

KN: So he saw your mother and did they know each other before? They were family friends...

MY: No, no, he didn't.

KN: And so your father saw this beautiful woman, younger than him. And he fell in love and he proposed. And he... how long did he, he must have stayed for quite a while actually in Okinawa. They had two children?

MY: Right, two children, right. He actually stayed there, must be about three years.

KN: And then he moved back.

MY: Back to Peru with my mother.

KN: Leaving the two children behind to be cared for by his mother-in-law.

MY: No, mother.

KN: Oh, his mother.

MY: Yeah. And they were planning to come over right away to Peru, to join them in Peru.

KN: And then the war broke out.

MY: Right, and they were so-called "stranded."

KN: So in the meantime, while this was happening, and few more children were born, including you and your other sister. So now there's four children. And you had never actually met your other two sisters.

MY: 'Til...

KN: Until after the war.

MY: Right. Until Eiko was sixteen and the other was eighteen, Kimiko was eighteen.

KN: So were you, as you were growing up, you knew you were the eldest and you knew you had elder sister. So did you see photographs of them? I'm trying to process it. I mean, how would you grow up knowing that there's actually more siblings, more sisters?

MY: Well, somewhere in my mind I kind of knew they were going to come over. And as a child, you don't think too deep anyway. I'm thinking about baseball or something else.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.