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TI: Okay, and so your dad and your mom and your other siblings...

MO: When they came out, I think the place they rented was from a Ukrainian family. So I think I moved out of Mr. Kimura's care. [Laughs] I went to live with my dad when I was going to the last year of high school.

TI: That year that you were with Mr. Kimura, did you get involved in a lot of school social functions?

MO: Yeah.

TI: So like dances?

MO: Yeah, go to dances, playing basketball. I enjoyed Winnipeg. Then the people that were sent to Manitoba for sugar beets, they all moved back into Winnipeg.

TI: Oh, so more Japanese started coming?

MO: Yeah.

TI: Now, with more Japanese, did the Japanese ever get together for like a picnic or anything like that?

MO: Oh, yeah. Yeah, Winnipeg there was quite a few Japanese.

TI: Now, besides Mr. Kimura, were there other Steveston people that you saw in Winnipeg?

MO: Well, I don't think there was... the family Mr. Kimura rented a place upstairs, he's from Steveston.

TI: So in 1945, your family moves from Minto to Winnipeg. So why did they move? Do you know why they came to Winnipeg?

MO: Well, maybe it's because I was there, or I think my dad had a... I don't know, Dad's relative, one of Dad's relatives was living in Minto before the war. He was there.

TI: Say that one more time? One of your dad's relatives was living in Minto or Winnipeg?

MO: Winnipeg.

TI: Winnipeg, okay.

MO: He was married to a hakujin lady there. He must have lived in Winnipeg during the war, broke out.

TI: Okay, say that one more time. So your dad's relative was with a hakujin, you said?

MO: Yeah.

TI: Were they married?

MO: They were married, yeah.

TI: They were married. So it was a mixed race marriage, Japanese...

MO: Yeah. I don't know why he was living in Winnipeg, but he was there.

TI: Now, how common was it to have, like, a mixed race marriage back then? Like a Japanese and hakujin?

MO: Well, not very many that I know.

TI: Yeah, that's why I ask. Because in the United States, it wasn't that common either.

MO: Yeah. I don't know what he was doing in Winnipeg, though. He was maybe one of the outcasts from Japan, I don't know. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, interesting. Because you think, because it was a mixed marriage?

MO: Yeah.

TI: Interesting. So what about your sister, the one that was in Winnipeg before you, who did she live with?

MO: She was... no, she was living in a hakujin place, she was a schoolgirl.

TI: Oh, a schoolgirl. Okay, that makes sense.

MO: She went to a different high school in Winnipeg, though.

BY: And this was your sister who was adopted by your uncle?

MO: Yeah.

BY: And so when your family comes to Winnipeg, how did your life change? Did it change quite a bit?

MO: No, no, I enjoyed living at home. I mean, naturally, I didn't think I had too good... I mean, helping Mr. Kimura live.

BY: You didn't have to cook anymore, anyway.

TI: You probably missed your mom's cooking. [Laughs] Well, and just seeing the family, too, but probably missing your mom's cooking.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.