<Begin Segment 2>

DG: Okay, and so, tell us about your father, and what you know about what he did.

MM: I know that he went to work at a...

AM: In a restaurant.

MM: In a restaurant. Yeah, and then he learned to, he became a chef. And that's why he has a picture, you know, you know, you know how those pictures with a cleaver. So, and when he, then I think he had a business, ne, he bought a business or this variety store. And after it, it started paying off, then he quit his job at the restaurant, and went into the retail business.

AM: And then got married to Mother. [Laughs]

MM: Yeah. But, yeah, I guess kocchi kite kara kekkon shita no kana. But anyway, my mother, I think, ano, she wanted to come to America but her folks didn't want her to go. But she was, ano, but she wouldn't back down so finally the parents reluctantly ano let her go. So then she got married to Dad and...

DG: And she's from where?

MM: Huh?

DG: She was from where?

MM: Kumamoto. And my folks, my father, is from Kumamoto, too.

AM: And their first store opened at 673 Weller Street.

AI: Do you remember when that was? Or do you know when they opened that first store?

MM: We weren't around then. [Laughs] We weren't around there yet. But, we have pictures of the Higo Ten Cent Store. They used to call it Ten Cent store at that time. And he enlarged the store and I guess it started paying off and then Mother came. And then that's where our life began.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.