<Begin Segment 3>

BY: All right. Let's skip to your mom right now. So what was your mother's name and where was she born?

MK: Tatsu, T-A-T-S-U. She was born in Okayama in that area, and I don't know... the only thing I know about that is when she came off of the boat as a bride, my father's first words to her were, "Oh, I thought it was going to be your sister," her older sister his age. And my mother was two years younger than him, and I knew, or she told me that it was real insulting to her. So she remembered it throughout her life.

BY: That she was not the one that your father was expecting then?

MK: Yeah. And of course, that was the first thing he told her. [Laughs]

BY: Oh, yeah, not very tactful. And what was her last name?

MK: Suzuki.

BY: Okay, so Tatsu Suzuki.

MK: Yeah.

BY: Okay, all right. And so then obviously they didn't know each other then. Was it an arranged marriage?

MK: Arranged marriage.

BY: Okay, all right. Do you know, did the two families know each other in Japan?

MK: Yeah, I think somehow, I think my brother had a map that they were related somehow. There was a diagram, so somehow they're related.

BY: Okay. So probably from the same village or area in Okayama, okay. And so do you know, did they... often people who were in arranged marriages would have sort of a legal marriage in Japan and then they would have another marriage in the U.S. Do you know what happened with your...

MK: No, I don't know the details.

BY: Okay, so you don't know anything about that. Okay.

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