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TI: So I now want to just talk a little bit about your parents. Can you first tell me the names of your parents, your father, his name?

JN: His name was Iwaichi Naganuma.

TI: And do you know where in Japan he came from?

JN: Fukuoka, Japan.

TI: And do you know why he came from Japan to Peru?

JN: To find a job to work for, any kind of job available. He tried to do farming, but nothing would grow. He did other jobs that he did, but I don't know what other jobs. He found a friend that, as a partner, they decided to open up this laundry business. They were very successful, at the time they were doing real well, and that's when the war started.

TI: Okay, so before we do that, so he started first, like, farming, and then later on he did kind of...

JN: Any jobs, anything.

TI: But then he found a partner and they started a laundry business.

JN: He was also from Japan.

TI: Okay.

YN: When your father went to Peru?

JN: Gee, must be in the early '30s.

TI: No, maybe earlier than that, right?

JN: Oh, god, probably, but I'm not quite sure.

TI: So how did your father meet your mother?

JN: Oh, this is the war bride picture that he received. She must have been eighteen years old, probably. She came to Peru to meet my father, and it was that time that he had a wrist, a watch for my mother. So when she got off, he presented to her a new watch, and that's how everything started.

TI: So who told you that story? Did your father or your mother tell you that story?

JN: This is through probably our elder brother or sister.

TI: Okay, so that's kind of like a family story everyone knows how your father did that. When your mother came, you said your father was around eighteen years old?

JN: I'm sorry?

TI: Well, let me think. How old was your mother?

JN: She was eighteen when they got married.

TI: She was eighteen. And how old was your father?

JN: Oh, probably late or early thirties, probably.

TI: Okay, so quite a bit older, maybe over twelve years older. Are there any stories about your mother when she first came to Peru as a "picture bride," or she had never met your father? Do you know how it was for her, maybe what stories, was she surprised, was she excited, was she scared? Do you have a sense?

JN: Oh, probably she was surprised, but that I have not heard anything.

TI: And when your mother came, was your father already doing the laundry business at this point?

JN: I believe so.

TI: And I'm sorry, your mother's name? What was your mother's name?

JN: Isoka.

TI: Do you know her maiden name?

JN: Nakao.

TI: And was she also from Fukuoka, or from a different prefecture?

JN: I believe from Oita.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.