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VY: Well, let's talk about that then. First of all, do you have any memory of the day that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor?

KI: No.

VY: Do you remember... did your parents ever talk about it or any of your aunts and uncles?

KI: I have no memory of that, no.

VY: Nobody really talked about it?

KI: No.

VY: Okay. And tell me a little bit about your brother. When was your brother born and how old were the two of you?

KI: My brother was born in 1935, so that means he was two years older than I am, and he was born in Seattle. And what else is kind of, well, interesting? He was given an English name, Paul, in addition to his Japanese name, which is Akira. And when it came to me, I wasn't given an English name, I was given the name Kenji, that was it. Now, I like to tease my parents to say they were just simply too tired to give me a name. [Laughs] I don't know why.

VY: Oh, before we move on to the war, really quick, did anybody live with you besides, was it just your parents and your brother?

KI: No, my grandmother came to live with us. In 1937, my grandfather died. And at that time, my uncle lived with them, so they could continue in farming. But my uncle went to college and eventually she couldn't handle the farm by herself. So it was leased to a Filipino worker who took over the farm, and in the meantime, my grandmother moved to Seattle and lived with us in the hotel, and she took care of me while my mother worked.

VY: Do you have any real early memories of your grandmother?

KI: Not really, except I had a picture of my grandmother at a Japanese bank. She was, wanted to take her money out of the Japanese bank because of the oncoming war, and I happened to be with her because she was taking care of me, but I don't remember being at the bank. But there is a picture, I'm standing behind her, and she is asking to remove her money from the bank.

VY: So she wanted to take her money out of the bank because she was worried.

KI: Yeah. Well, you know, like in the current situation, like in Russia where the ruble has fallen, people want to take their dollar denominated securities out of the bank, because the ruble is falling in value. And I'm sure because the war was happening, the Japanese money was less valuable. But that was... I remember because I saw this picture of myself and my grandmother at a bank.

VY: It's interesting how seeing images from the past kind of bring these memories back to us.

KI: Yeah. I don't remember their being there, but I saw the picture and so must have been there. But I don't have a lot of memories of my grandmother before the war. I have more memories of her after the war.

VY: Okay.

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