<Begin Segment 12>

DC: So this is the second part of the interview with Evelyn Togami, Mary Matsubara, and Charlie Matsubara. The interview is taking place at Van Citters Historic Preservation on Monday, May 28, 2012, at ten a.m. And this is part of the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League project on Japanese experiences in New Mexico during World War II. So Charlie, we haven't talked to you too much yet, so I wanted to hear more now about your story. So could we start by talking about your parents, where they came from in Japan and what originally brought them to the U.S.?

CM: Well, my father from Yamaguchi, Japan, arrived in San Francisco in 1906, in the early part of April. And soon after he landed in San Francisco, he was caught into the San Francisco earthquake and almost lost his life in a short period of time. That was his beginning experience. And he was in that San Francisco earthquake.

DC: What an introduction to the U.S.

CM: When you said introduction, when his boat arrived in San Francisco, he saw the American flag and he fell in love so much, the American flag was so beautiful, and through that first experience, all through his life in California, he couldn't wait for a national holiday to come so he could put up his American flag out. And so to this very day, every time I go to the cemetery on these special occasions, I'll give him the American flag, I put it up for him.

DC: Did he continue putting the American flag up even during the war and after the war?

CM: Well on the holidays, that's the time he would, he had his American, I still have his American flag and it's flying today in front of our house. His flag is flying on this Memorial Day.

DC: So he never soured on the American flag, even after all that happened ?

CM: That's right. He just, he just was... well, you know, all the Asian people at least, they were discriminated, they could not become American citizens. It took him fifty years to become American citizen in 1956. He arrived in 1906. And he loved the country but because of that, being Oriental, there's a little discrimination involved, life was a little harder than the rest of them. But you know... but they would work through hard work and they established themselves, and I think they themselves, they did very well.

DC: What about your mother, when did she come over?

CM: She come... gosh, about five or six years later, about 19... I figure it had to be 1912.

DC: Did they know each other in Japan?

CM: No, it's a "picture bride." In those days it was all "picture brides." They exchanged pictures and then they looked through the picture and approval of their family, and they figured this would be a good match.

ET: It would be awful if somebody sent the wrong picture, wouldn't it? I heard they'd done that.

DC: Were they pleased with each other when they met each other?

CM: Yes, I guess so. [Laughs]

MM: They have to take it regardless.

DC: So they got married in San Francisco, and they lived in San Francisco?

CM: What?

DC: And then they lived in San Francisco?

CM: Oh yes, yes. And she was exception of, you know... and then early he stayed there because the passage was so high, money was so tight and hard, but she was one of the few that came on first class. She was one of the fortunate ones. No, because there was a reason for that being she had a little eye problem and due to that, they figured that she may have it difficult to come through. But when you're a first class citizen on a first class, they give you better preference, a better, you know, and she was able to have come without a problem. But that's why there's always a joke about her, she has to be different because she come first class.

DC: Was she also from Yamaguchi Prefecture?

CM: Yes, yes, from a different county but it was the same...

DC: And her family wasn't wealthy, it was just...

CM: No they were just fisherman or farmer, that was their main thing.

DC: And so what kind of business did they set up for themselves in San Francisco?

CM: Well, my folks, when they first come across, well, they have to stop at Honolulu, Hawaii. Then they get steered into the cane, labor help, they got maneuvered with immigration or labor or union or what, I don't know what it is, most of them, they all get herded into Hawaii and work on their cane plantation. And so many, and then from there they come across to the mainland. When they arrive in the mainland, there's a connection, they all get herded into the railroad labor deal. And after that, then they're free to start into business or find other jobs.

DC: I see. So your parents were never in Hawaii right?

CM: Well, he worked in a cane for so many...

DC: And then did he also work on the railroad once he got here?

CM: Oh, yes.

DC: How long did he do that?

CM: When it's a contract, it had to be about a year time.

DC: What state did he work in on the railroad?

CM: Well, all the western states, the Union Pacific.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.