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JN: Well, let's start off with, tell us a little bit about you, like where you were born, just a little about just you and your family and what it was like.

MN: I was born in Winslow, Washington, and Mom and Dad lived at a little Japanese school. And on the day I was born, we had twelve inches of snow, and that was December 6, 1919. And I came early, so Dad had to run across the field to get Dr. Shepherd, and Dr. Shepherd came to the house and finished. [Laughs] Yeah, so... and that was twelve inches, so, we had lots of snow then.

JN: Tell us about your family, your Mom and Dad, when they came?

MN: My Dad and Mom came from Kagoshima, Japan, southern part of Japan. My father came, he was here little earlier, 18... maybe '16 or something, and then we have four, three girls -- I mean, two girls that were born in Seattle. And Mom came a little later, and then we have a sister, Elsie, that was named after the nurse from General Hospital in Seattle, and Kay, Kazuko. And then they moved over to Bainbridge, and then I was born then. And then Eiko came later, so there's four girls in our family.

JN: When did you move to your house in, on Finch Road?

MN: Finch Road? That was maybe around the end of 19'... let's see, I was born in 19'... oh, so around 1922, maybe around then.

JN: Can you remember anything about your parents, when did they come and why did they come to United States?

MN: My dad's family's all doctors, and so he was trying to, I guess, take a rest, and he was the eldest son. And so he decided he'll come, was going to school, university, and he was kind of tired and he wanted a rest, so he came out this way. And then what was the other part?

JN: What about your mother?

MN: And mother was... mother's side was in the army, and so, and Mother was a teacher, she graduated normal school, teacher's school, and then taught school for a while and then came to United States. And Dad and -- I mean, my father and they were married.

JN: So did they meet here or did they, did they... was she a picture bride?

MN: No, because Grandpa, Dad went home once in between, so that's how he met her.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.