<Begin Segment 3>

BN: So can you tell me again about what your dad did for a living?

NN: My jiichan? Oh, my father?

BN: Your mother's father.

NN: Okay. They owned a... he owned a, I guess a little open market stall in the, I guess it was like the Boyle Heights community where I guess they had produce and vegetables and different other grocery items. And this is where my uncle, Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Joe, and my mom would help out at the store. And other than that, I'm not sure.

BN: This would be a retail produce store, right?

NN: Yes.

BN: There was a very, very popular occupation, lot of Japanese have those. Then you mentioned that, probably because of his veteran, Russo-Japanese veterans activities and so on, he's arrested and interned separately, so that leaves the two brothers and your mom, so where do they go?

NN: They were imprisoned in Manzanar, and the oldest son, my uncle Jimmy, he went on a letter writing campaign and wrote letters to the powers to be to the government about requesting that their dad, my jiichan, be able to come to the family because he didn't do anything wrong. The government actually released my grandfather, so he rejoined the family in Manzanar. I don't know what lapse of time occurred, but he was able to come back and be with the family. But like I said, his sentiments was always pro-Japan.

BN: And then your mom subsequently leaves Manzanar?

NN: Right.

BN: And kind of similarly with your dad.

NN: Yes. So she migrated to Chicago, and I guess she had some type of secretarial job there in the, I guess the Chicago Young Niseis. I guess there was some kind of restriction that were placed on them that you can't really congregate, you can't have more than, like, four of us together at one time. It was kind of like, forget that, so they had dances and tried to make a quality of life for themselves. So they met, my father and my mother, they actually met on a blind date that, I guess didn't at first turn out well because my father actually thought that his date was this other girl that was with my mom, so he couldn't understand why my mom kept talking to him when he thought the date was the other girl. So I guess my mom's first reaction is, "What's wrong with this guy?" So I guess when he finally figured it out, got straightened out that it was my mom that he was supposed to be seeing, that I guess he liked her because he called her up and apologized, and the rest is history. [Laughs]

BN: So they get married in Chicago, right?

NN: Yes.

BN: About how long of an interval, do you know, between?

NN: I think it was pretty quick.

BN: Yeah.

NN: Yeah, because my older brother was born in 1945. He was born in 1945, so it's probably like, let's do it.

BN: That's what you did in those days. And then when were you born?

NN: 1948.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.