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FK: Sada, I'm interested in what you can tell me about your parents as far as coming to the island, or coming to the United States. What do you, what do you know about that?

SO: Well, probably very little, Frank. All I know is my mother and father came over around 1913 or thereabouts, somewhere in that area. Prior to that, my mother's two brothers had come here to work, and then they went back and my mother and dad apparently got married, and they came over. I remember one thing, and maybe very little, about their coming here. I remember seeing a passport, or some kind of document that said they were then able to resettle in this, or settle in this country. I haven't seen it since, so I don't know whether it exists or not. That was the only bit of evidence that seemed to suggest to me that they voluntarily wanted to come here. I think one of the questions asked was why did they come here. I think, like so many other immigrants, they want to make a decent living and then to get to better things, so I don't think their motivation was any different. I can remember one time in school, grade school, must be junior high, the teacher asked us to write about our, this very question you're talking about, and when I went home and talked to my mother, I said, why did you come here? She gave me an answer, said, no, we don't talk about, because it said money, and that wasn't the purpose of why they were trying to settle here. It might've been the real reason, but they didn't want to say it publically that they came here to earn money. So that, that's about what I can remember about that early time. Obviously, the matter of what happened when I was then born in 1922 is a different story altogether. There's this big gap where I don't know very much about my family, other than, most recently, I have a cousin who sent me a letter, first in basic Japanese and also in English, cousin I never heard of before who, apparently, is going through some genealogical studies and said, like, "I'm your cousin." But I hadn't kept contact with him since, so I really don't know. His Japanese, his English is probably worse than my Japanese. [Laughs]

FK: Now, did your parents, when they came over here, did they, where did they settle when they first came here?

SO: Well, do you know the Wing Point Golf Course?

FK: Uh-huh.

SO: I can't remember what hole it is, but it's one that runs along the road. It was a house, which was on, I guess it must be about, I don't know, what used to be seventh or eighth hole probably. And they settled it, settled there temporarily, because soon thereafter they moved to the current home, which, I think, is one of the surviving older homes. And it's kind of interesting, Frank, that you asked that question, because a couple of non Japanese, as we say, were instrumental in having my family acquire property. At that point, remember, the only way you can acquire property is through some other citizen, and obviously my older brothers were then born, so they were legal citizens. But there are two families, Caucasian families, Magdha Jones, I think her name is, M-A-G-D-H-A Jones, who, my dad used to work for them, like the old fashioned furnaces, he would go down early in the morning, set it up so the house would be warm and so forth. And I think, if my memory is right, I was probably about, I don't know, six or seven then. I remember she, that is Mrs. Jones, took pictures of the family, and the only extant photos that I know of when I'm that young, but also the few images in which my father is present, because my dad died in '31, I think it was. So obviously, that, those photographs are, they mean a lot to me because that's part of my, not only did my dad die, but my sister died soon thereafter, so that the family was smaller. But I think Mrs. Jones must've interceded some way in order to run through the paperwork to get this piece of property.

Another family by name of Ansen S. Burwell, B-U-R-W-E-L-L, and I think they were also helpful, because they afforded my dad work in their summer home, which is down by Hollydock someplace -- I can't find it anymore -- but I can remember when my dad died, rather traditionally, the Japanese families would have a big photo taken of all those who were present so that they can then send back to Japan saying this is So-and-So's funeral. Well, in that large photo is one white person. That's Ansen S. Burwell, who came here for the funeral service. So then there were people who, when you asked a question, I guess the first question was, why did they settle here? Our family was somewhat different. We did not have a strawberry patch in, to, for our livelihood. More than anything else, we, my dad worked for the Burwell's and the Jones, and then we followed suit, we meaning my brothers, we start working, mowing the lawn, raking leaves, you name it, that's what we did. But insofar as the, unlike other families, we did not have strawberries, where the other families had strawberries and so therefore the kids had to work on the farm. I didn't have to work on a farm. I worked for the Joneses and other people, mowing lawns and so forth. So that's how we got... maybe a long, long answer to a short question. [Laughs]

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