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TI: So how did your father meet your mother?

MT: Well, I think it was sort of like a "picture bride" thing where he lived in one mura, village, I don't know how they're, what they're called, but anyway, I know that he did not live in the same mura as my mother. But somehow there must have been contact between the people and their families back in Japan, and it was kind of an arranged marriage.

TI: So like a baishakunin?

MT: Yeah, I think.

TI: And before we go on with her story, what was your mother's name?

MT: Ryoko Kawata.

TI: Kawata, okay. And do you know what her family did in Japan?

MT: The same. But she had lost her mother when her young brother was born, and so life was very difficult for her, but I think it was basically like farming work.

TI: So she lost her brother, did she have any other siblings?

MT: Yes, she had a younger sister, and the brother survived, but the mother passed away.

TI: Oh, I see, that's right, her mother died with the brother. So she had a brother and sister. And do you know how long your father was in the United States before your mother joined him?

MT: He was here for quite a few years, because I think he was already in his thirties, early thirties when they got married. I might be mistaken about that. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, so it sounds like maybe about fifteen years or something, if he was a teenager when he first came.

MT: I was surprised to learn that he was that young when he came, but I may be mistaken about that. But I think he was in his thirties, early thirties when he got married, when my mother came.

TI: Now how about the age difference between your father and mother? Was your father older than your mother?

MT: Yes.

TI: About how many years?

MT: Well, she was twenty when she came, so that would be...

TI: Over ten years.

MT: Yeah, I think so, ten or twelve years maybe.

TI: Now, did your mother ever tell you any stories about when she first met your father, or what it was like for her coming to America?

MT: I don't remember that she had said very much about that, but I think she did say that when she came to America she didn't know what to expect, so I think it was someone that she had not met face to face. I don't think my father had gone back before they were married to meet her or anything.

TI: Do you know if she was surprised? Oftentimes I read about or hear about how when these women would get off the ship and they would meet their husband for the first time, that oftentimes the picture wasn't quite what...

MT: Yes, my mother had told me stories about that. [Laughs]

TI: Right, especially the age, sometimes they thought that they were going to marry someone younger, and I was wondering if that happened with your mom.

MT: I don't know that she, if she had any disappointments or anything like that. I don't think she had ever mentioned that, so she probably knew how old he was.

TI: So before I talk more about you, let's just talk about your siblings. Can you tell me your siblings kind of in the order, their birth order? So like who was the oldest?

MT: Oh, my sister was the firstborn, Kazuko, and then my brother, Tsutomu, then my brother Kiyoshi, then my younger sister Iku and my youngest who was Heidi, Hiroko.

TI: And your oldest sister, how much older was she than you?

MT: Four years.

TI: That's right, and then it seemed like almost every year after, you would have, your parents had children.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.