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TI: So let's go to your father. What was your father's name?

MI: Fred Suyekichi Kinoshita.

TI: And for this interview, I'm not going to go much into your father's history or your mother's history. Because we did an interview a few years ago with your older sister, Mary Jane Kajiko, and she kind of talked about the details of...

MI: Baishakunin marriage?

TI: Yeah, the baishakunin marriage, where they came from, Kagoshima, and the Ibusuki, you talked about that. But there was one piece of information I just came across that a researcher did. They said that your mom... so let's first talk about your mom. So what was your mother's name?

MI: My mom was Akino Toyota.

TI: And what was interesting was this family history researcher was looking at your mom's side. And she said that it looked like some of her roots actually went to, actually, the same area that Dad's family was, on kind of the Takamatsu Shikoku island. Did you know any of that? I guess he had family that were kind of merchants and traders and that some of their roots were back there.

MI: The only thing I know about that Toyota family, they had a samurai. Maybe that has to do with it. Beyond that, I really don't know.

TI: Okay, so that's interesting. Because we're doing some research, and I never heard that, so I was just curious about that. And then you just mentioned the baishakunin, so talk a little bit about that, how your mother and father met.

MI: Well, I don't know too much about the baishakunin, but whenever my mom, dad and mom had a fight, my dad will cuss out the baishakunin. [Laughs] And then after that, I said, "I'll never be a matchmaker."

TI: Oh, that's good. And this was a baishakunin in Japan that matched up...

MI: Yeah, in Japan. Because when he had enough money to get married, he went back to Japan and went after Mom, but he had a baishakunin there.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.