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BN: Okay, so it's December 9, 2021, and we're here to interview Ron Osajima. We're at his home in Yorba Linda, California, and we are also with Evan Kodani who is shooting the video. So we're going to begin now, as I think we do with most interviews. And I wanted to first just ask you about your parents and what you know about them, starting with your father, who I believe was an Issei. And if you can just start with his name and birth, when he was born, and maybe what you know of where he was from in Japan.

RO: So he was, he came to America in, I think, early '90s, with his father and his brother. And so they were in their teens at that time. And he brought them along, and then after spending time here and realizing that Japanese Americans couldn't buy property, and there are a whole lot of things that affected, way back then, even Japanese Americans. So his parents went back to Japan, but he and his brother decided to stay here. And then he met my mother who was Nisei, and her parents came late in the 1800s and they decided to stay. So she was able to enjoy growing up with parents here.

BN: So she was really one of the, she must have been one of the older Nisei.

RO: Older Nisei, yeah.

BN: What was her family name before she got married?

RO: You can't ask me questions like that because I don't remember. [Laughs]

BN: Her first name, though, was Yukiko?

RO: Yuki, Yukiko, right.

BN: Just to go back to your father, do you know what prefecture or where in Japan his family was from?

RO: I don't remember. I knew at one time.

BN: Okay. Was it more, was it from a more rural area?

RO: I think so, yeah.

BN: Do you know much about family did?

RO: They were farmers. And the funny thing about that is when he and his brother stayed in America, somebody else took over and they had children. And my cousin went there just to see the old place, and knocked on the door, and they wouldn't let her in the house, and they were not interested in her at all. And we believe that's because they were afraid she was coming back to take back the property. So we never went ourselves because we would be thrown out, too. [Laughs] So that's kind of a shame, but that's what happened.

BN: It's funny, I've heard stories, other stories.

RO: Oh, have you?

BN: Yeah. So do you know if... because what often happened is that the Issei would send money back to the family? Were you aware if that was...

RO: No.

BN: You were obviously, this was before you were born. Do you know much about what your father's early life, after he came to the U.S., was, in terms of what sort of work he did?

RO: Yeah.

BN: And we should get his name, too.

RO: Hakaru.

BN: Hakaru.

RO: Yeah, he worked in, he would buy fruits and vegetables from the farmers and then sell them in the group between the people who actually sell to customers and the people who make it...

BN: Sort of like a wholesale market.

RO: Wholesale, so he actually worked in the wholesale market downtown.

BN: This is downtown...

RO: L.A.

BN: So where did he... after, well, maybe let's go to your, we'll go back to your father, let's maybe go to your mother a little. You mentioned she's Nisei. Where was she in the birth order in terms of siblings?

RO: She was probably three or four. I think the first two were born in Japan, and then when the parents came, they brought them along. So she was one of the first ones to be, to come from here.

BN: And then where did they live?

RO: They lived in Southern Cal, I'm not sure exactly where.

BN: Do you know much about her early life in terms of schooling?

RO: I know a little, yeah. She went all the way through, she went through high school and she wanted to go to college. She was smart, so she wouldn't have any trouble getting in. And her brother did go to, I think it was USC. So she wanted to go there but they would not let her because she was a woman, and back in those days, it was really harder for women than for men. So she was very upset about that, she says her brother gets to go and she has to make sure his... whatever this is called, his shirts are ironed. So she would iron it and give it to him, and then he would go to school and she would be working in some kind of a horrible job.

BN: Yeah, I guess that was pretty common in those days.

RO: Yeah, exactly.

BN: The son was really prioritized.

RO: Sure.

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