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TI: So let's go next to your father. What was your father's name and where was he born?

HY: My father's name was Kenzo Yoshida. He was born in Wailuku, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. Hey, you know, it's interesting, you know how they would sometimes give children to the in-laws in the case to continue the name? So he was actually registered as a Tsuda, T-S-U-D-A. But when he came to the U.S., the mainland, when he was fourteen years old, he kept the name Yoshida.

TI: So Yoshida was his actual family. But who were the Tsudas? Who were they?

HY: That was his mother's family. So in Japan, I think he was registered as a Tsuda.

TI: That's good to know. I'm glad we're doing this because sometimes people use these interviews for genealogy, so that little tidbit of information could be really valuable in terms of maybe going back to a koseki in Japan.

HY: Yeah, so I probably should be a Tsuda. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, that's interesting. So Maui, do you know what year he was born?

HY: No, I'd have to look that up.

TI: Okay, I actually looked it up in the government records, and they have listed 1907.

HY: Oh, 1907, that's good to know.

TI: And how did your father and his family get to Maui?

HY: Well, the family story goes that my great grandfather had a, kind of a merchant ship that went along, up and down the islands of Japan, of course. And it got shipwrecked and so my grandfather, in order to help pay the debt, came to Maui, went to work in Maui to help pay the debt.

TI: And when you say come to Maui to work, was it like on the plantation?

HY: Well, of course, it started, everybody started out on the plantation but then he had a wagon that he would drive along the island of Maui, along the coast, selling merchandise, hard goods and food and so forth. So he was kind of a traveling salesman, I guess. So he would furnish the Japanese workers along the island of Maui.

TI: Oh, interesting. And so, perhaps more than just a salesman, I mean, he actually was a traveling store.

HY: That's right. It was more of a store he would sell out of his wagon. He was quite a character from family stories. He was quite a big man, and he had carried a pistol with him. And so he was, could take care of himself. [Laughs]

TI: So any interesting stories about doing that? I mean, big man, pistol, did he ever have to use it or was he ever threatened or anything?

HY: I don't know if he did that. But I know once the wagon crashed and my father was with him. And horses ran away and I guess he put my father in the wagon and physically pulled the wagon into town so that my father could be treated for his injuries.

TI: Oh, my. So he was not only a big man, but a strong man.

HY: Yeah, he was a pretty strong guy. He was quite a character, I guess, nobody messed with him. [Laughs]

TI: And do you recall any of the names on your father's side, in terms of either your great grandfather, grandfather, and even your father? Let's start with your, well, we got your father, but your grandfather? Do you know your grandfather's name?

HY: You know, it escapes me now.

TI: Okay. Do you know from what part of Japan they were from?

HY: Oh, they were from Hiroshima.

TI: Okay.

HY: By the way, he moved back to Japan just prior to World War II and he retired there. I guess after he did his wagon business, he opened a hotel in Wailuku. So he had a hotel and apparently he did well and was able to retire to Japan before the war, although his children stayed in Hawaii.

TI: Okay. How about your grandmother? How did your grandfather and grandmother meet?

HY: You know, I don't know that history. I imagine it was arranged. I think my grandmother's family was probably in a better, higher class, I guess. Because her family came from... her family's brothers and cousins all were in the Japanese navy during the war. They were right near Etajima, which was, I guess, kind of like the naval academy in Japan. And one of them was on a submarine, the one that was in Hawaii. I think one of her sons was also, or nephews was also the police chief in a town called Itsukaichi, which I think is just first train station from Hiroshima. And they were there, that family was there during the bombing of Hiroshima.

TI: Yeah, go back to that. You mentioned, so a relative of your mother was actually on one of the submarines that tried to go through the submarine nets into, I'm not sure if it was Honolulu or Pearl Harbor or whatever. So how did you know this and was he ever captured? What's the story behind that?

HY: I think he died. They never did find him, but apparently he was supposedly on one of the submarines that went there, another of those, of her nephews, I guess. And there are some papers that... I have a cousin who came to the States after the war, and he had some papers which, one of the, I guess they were cousins, had a certificate. Apparently they had sunk a (carrier), the (Hornet), I believe. And we can't read it because it's written in this fancy Japanese style, and even my cousin couldn't read that. But there was quite a history on their side of the family in terms of the military on the Japan side.

TI: What's your sense, I'll say this, before the war started? Was there a lot of pride in the Yoshida family about their Japanese roots, connections? It seems like, especially on your grandmother's side, there was maybe a lot of standing in terms of, not only in society, but in the military also.

HY: I think so. I think on my grandmother's side, the Tsuda side, that they had some standing because one of the nephews became police chief there in Itsukaichi, and because so many joined the Japanese navy.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.