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VY: So let's talk a little bit about your siblings. And how many siblings do you have?

MM: Well, one has passed away, the one that was born in camp. I kind of blame the United States government for that. And my youngest brother, who is Caitlin's father.

VY: Okay. And when were they born and what's, so that's, the birth order is...

MM: My brother Shoji, the one that died, was born... well, I'm not really sure, but it was 1943. But there's some question, because he was born in camp, and maybe Caitlin knows better exactly when he was born, but we always thought he was born October 27th, and that's when we celebrated his birthday. And that's what he thought, he was born on October 27th, so that may be correct, but it may not be correct, I don't really know. And then Alan was born September 20, 1946, so he's five years younger than I am.

VY: Okay. So roughly, you were born a couple years later, two or three years later your brother was born, and another two or three years later, your youngest brother was born.

MM: Right.

VY: And let's see. So we touched on this a little bit earlier when you and Caitlin were talking, but the two oldest children, you and your brother Shoji, were given Japanese names, but your youngest brother Alan wasn't. So I'm just curious why you think that is.

MM: Oh. Well, it's just that my mom liked that name, Claire, and my dad couldn't pronounce it, so she gave me the name "Misa," who was, she had a really good friend from Colorado in grade school, and the neighbor probably or something, whose name was Misa, and liked her. And, in fact, I met her just later in life, I met her recently, the one who I was named after, so that's how I got my name. Oh, and Setsuko, I can't remember exactly what it means, but depending on how it's written in Japanese, it had some really esoteric meaning, which I can't remember. But my mom did tell me that, and I don't know it was spelled in Japanese. And my brother Shoji, I don't know how he got his name, but same thing. It's just that she wanted to name him Glen, I don't know why. [Laughs] And my dad couldn't say the name, so they gave him the name Shoji, and he had just that one name. Like I have Misa Setsuko, my youngest brother Alan has Alan Yuji, but my middle brother was just Shoji, Shoji Oiye. And he would really get mad if people tried to call him Georgie. Remember you had an uncle, I think uncle or cousin or something, JoAnn, her mom's cousin maybe. We were at a party and he asked Shoji if he could call him George, and he says, "No way, just call me Shoji by my name."

VY: That sounds reasonable to me. Well, I would like to now start talking a little bit about your childhood. But before we move on to that, is there anything significant or notable about your brothers that comes to mind that at this point you want to bring up or mention?

MM: How long should we stay here? [Laughs] Well, what do you mean? Because there's a lot to say, I've lived with them all my life, and Shoji died while I was... so how much do you want to know?

VY: Right, that's a hard question, isn't it? Maybe we'll come back to that as we talk about your childhood, things will probably come up.

MM: Well, there's a lot that can come up. Okay, yeah.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2024 Densho. All Rights Reserved.