Densho Digital Repository - Barbara Reiko Mikami Keimi Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-459-1)

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VY: Okay. Today is Tuesday, February 5, 2019, and we're here in Los Angeles, California, with Barbara Keimi. Dana Hoshide is our videographer, and my name is Virginia Yamada. Barbara, thank you for joining us today for this interview.

BK: Yes.

VY: Let's start at the beginning. So can you tell us when you were born and what name you were given at birth?

BK: Well, I was born in Sawtelle, California, on December 4, 1935. And my name was Barbara Reiko Mikami.

VY: Okay, and how about your parents? What were their names and where were they from?

BK: My father's name was Chihiro Harry Mikami, and my mother's name was Fumiko, and her maiden name was Kagawa, and then she became a Mikami when she married my dad.

VY: And was your father born in Japan?

BK: Yes.

VY: And how about your mom, where was she born?

BK: Well, my mother was born in Buena Park, California, in 1912.

VY: In 1912. Did she grow up there?

BK: No, not really, because my dad used to... well, when I was born, my dad was working in Beverly Hills, because he was a chauffeur for the Bell family.

VY: Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute. I'm wondering -- sorry, I apologize -- I'm wondering about when your mom was growing up, where did she grow up?

BK: Well, I think when she was around three, which was very young, her father decided they wanted to go back to Japan, so they left for Japan. So my mother was educated in Japan.

VY: Is that where she met your father?

BK: Yes, it was, I think, kind of arranged or families or relatives put them together and they got married. And so they got married in Japan, and then they came over to the United States, and then I guess they wanted to make sure that it was, there wouldn't be any problems, so they got married here, too, so they would have to make sure that they're married. [Laughs]

VY: Okay, so they got married first in Japan and then they came over here and got married again.

BK: Right. Because I have a picture of them that was taken when they got married, and they had the full dress. My dad was in the Japanese getup and then my mom had the kimono and the headdress and all that kind of stuff. And I have a picture of that, and that was in 1930.

VY: 1930 is when they got married?

BK: Yes.

VY: So do you know how old they were there?

BK: Well, I think my mom was like eighteen, and then my dad was thirteen years older than her. So he was thirty-one, I guess.

VY: So when they both came to the States, did either one of them speak English?

BK: My mom, I know, did not. My dad, he might have picked it up when he was working as a chauffeur for the Bell family, and the next family he went to was the Thompson family that were living in Beverly Hills.