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PW: So today is April 6, 2022, and we're in Emervyille, California. My name is Patricia Wakida and I'm here today with Elliot Horikoshi. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. So we'll start from the very beginning with your family and your own personal background. Tell me when and where were you born?

EH: I was born in Salem, Oregon.

PW: What year and what date?

EH: And that was December 26, 1938.

PW: And what was the full name that was given to you when you were born?

EH: Elliot Yoshinobu Horikoshi.

PW: And what were your parents' names?

EH: My dad was (Yoshikazu) Casper Horikoshi. He had... I can't remember his Japanese name, I have to look it up.

PW: Feel free to look at your notes if it makes you comfortable.

EH: And my mother's name was Hisako Horikoshi.

PW: And do you know where they were born?

EH: I know... yes, my mother was born in (Genzan, Korean name Wonsan), North Korea, because at the time, the Japanese occupied Korea. And her father was a judge that was assigned to Korea, and so the parents and the whole family went there, and that's where my mother was born. I'm not sure where my father was born, let me see if I have that in here. I'll have to look that up. But Japanese people always ask which ken you're from, and my dad always said Niigata-ken, and my mother was from Ishikawa-ken.

PW: And where was your father born then?

EH: (Beppu, Kyushu). His father worked on the railroads, and helped them build the bridges that the train needed to maneuver. So he was an engineer, not on the train, but building, built bridges, so they moved all over. And so I don't remember exactly where he was born, but later on I'll look and let you know.

PW: But you said generally you remember hearing him say Niigata-ken?

EH: Yeah, that's where his family is from.

PW: Okay. And you did just mention that your father's family did some engineering work with bridges, bridge building and things?

EH: Yes, for the train, the train company.

PW: Do you remember anything else that your father would say about his family in Japan?

EH: No.

PW: And I'm kind of curious, let's continue with your father. So your father grew up in Japan, and I know that he had a, he was already a student and working towards a profession? Can you tell me what your father was doing in Japan?

EH: Growing up, you mean? Yeah, he went to seminary in Japan. He became a Christian, and so he went to, the college was called Kwansei Gakuin, which I think that's a Christian university. And he became a minister after graduation. And his first job was in (Manchuria), because the Japanese had also invaded (Manchuria), and there was a lot of Japanese workers over there, and so they needed a minister for the church. The way he met my mother was he was coming back from (Manchuria)to Japan. And I don't know the reason, but maybe it was a vacation or something. But he was going to speak at the church in Korea on his way home, and that's where my mother attended, and that's how they met.

PW: This is obviously before World War II officially broke out. Do you have any idea about what year your father might have gone to Mongolia?

EH: No, that was in the '30s, the late '30s, yes. (Around 1934.)

PW: And so they met, but then they came together to Japan? What happened after that?

EH: Apparently they developed a relationship. Because actually my mother, for college, she lived in Korea for quite a while, but then for college she came back to Japan. So they must have hooked up some way there. And because my dad's intentions were to get more education, they decided to go to the U.S. So then they decided they should get married first, so they got married, and then they came to the U.S. And the reason he did was because one of the missionaries from the U.S. who was in Japan and who was a friend of my dad's, recommended that if he wanted to get more schooling in Christianity, he needed to come to the U.S. because Japan was not really a Christian nation, it was mostly Buddhist or Shinto. And so there was a job opening for a pastor, a Japanese-speaking pastor in Salem in Oregon, and so that's how they made the connection for that, and that's why they came to the U.S.

PW: I'm kind of curious, do you know if your mom's family was Christian also?

EH: Apparently, my mother's mother used to send them to the Sunday school. So I don't think they were really Christian, but they, for some reason, she liked what was going on at the church there. My mother has four other sisters there, and so they used to send all of the sisters to church.

PW: In Korea?

EH: In Korea, right. There was a Christian church, I guess, in Korea also. And that's what got her started in that.

PW: Because that must be an interesting special bond, right? That's a very unusual occupation.

EH: Yeah. And since the number of Christians was so small at the time, or even now, in Japan, but there was a connection there.

PW: Did your family, your parents ever tell you about coming to the United States, any stories or memories about the actual journey?

EH: No, just that it was on a ship, and I think they landed in (Seattle), and then they had to go to, from (Seattle) over to Oregon to find the church.

PW: And what year was this?

EH: 1938.

PW: 1938.

EH: So they were married in March of 1938, and I was born in December, so right after the wedding.

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