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[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

VY: Today is Thursday, July 15, 2021, and we're here in the Densho studio in Seattle, Washington, with Yo Yasuda. Also in the room is our videographer Dana Hoshide, and my name is Virginia Yamada. Before we begin the interview, I just want to note that this is the first interview that we have conducted since our area was locked down from the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. So, Yo, thank you so much for sitting down with us for this interview today.

YY: You're welcome.

VY: Why don't we get started by having you tell us when and where you were born, and what name you were given at birth?

YY: The date and the year, and what was the second part?

VY: And the name you were given at birth.

YY: Oh, the name I was given is the same, it hasn't changed, it's Yoshiye Yasuda. No, Yoshiye Handa is my name. And I was born in San Francisco, August 26, 1934.

VY: Were you born in a hospital?

YY: No, with a... what do you call it?

VY: A midwife?

YY: Yes, a midwife.

VY: At your home?

YY: At our house.

VY: Do you know if all your siblings were born that way?

YY: Do I know what?

VY: Do you know if all of your siblings were born that way?

YY: I don't know, (but assume they were, too).

VY: You don't know? That's okay. Okay, and how about your parents, what were their full names and where were they born?

YY: I was born at home on Post Street, and what was the other part?

VY: How about your parents?

YY: My parents?

VY: Your parents. Do you know where they were born? Where your mother was born and where your father was born?

YY: They were born in Hiroshima-ken, and my mother in Mihara and my father was in Onomichi.

VY: And what were their names?

YY: My father is Sadata Handa and my mother, Kimiyo (Satani).

VY: That's okay, don't worry, it's okay. Don't worry. What do you know about their very early life in Japan before they came to the United States?

YY: The early life for my mother?

VY: Yes.

YY: Well, she was fairly young when she got married and came to the U.S. She was almost nineteen. And didn't really want to (...) get married, but I guess because her older brother (was married to the sister of the man she was to marry), she felt that she couldn't refuse and cause (...) problems between the two families. So she (agreed), even though she didn't want to (do so).

VY: I see. So her brother was married to your father's sister?

YY: My mother's older brother.

VY: Your mother's older brother had married your father's sister?

YY: Yes.

VY: Interesting, interesting. So she felt pressured to also get married at a young age. Do you know, was it an arranged marriage?

YY: Well, pretty much, I guess.

VY: Now, where was your father at the time? Did he already come to the States and then back to Japan?

YY: Well, he came back to Japan after being there for maybe over ten years in the United States, but he (came) back to get married and to bring a wife over (to America).

VY: How old was your father when he came?

YY: At that time, she was nineteen and he was about sixteen years older than she (was).

VY: So he was quite a bit older. How old was he when he came to America?

YY: I've heard him say sixteen, but I don't really know.

VY: What did your father do when he came to America?

YY: He was a carpenter by trade, and so he (started out taking small jobs until business increased, and in order to accept larger projects, he had to be licensed as) a building contractor, (which came later).

VY: Where did he go when he first arrived? When your father came to America, did he go directly to San Francisco or did he go somewhere else first?

YY: (He arrived at the port of) Seattle, and then he found his way to San Francisco. And actually, the Japanese community was in Mill Valley 9at that time), and so that's where he started, in Mill Valley, and eventually he moved to Alameda and finally to San Francisco.

VY: So where was he living when he came back to Japan to get your mom? Was he in San Francisco by then, or was he still in...

YY: (He was) still in Mill Valley.

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