<Begin Segment 4>

DC: What language did your parents speak in the house?

MM: Huh?

DC: What language did your mom and dad speak at home?

MM: Oh, we spoke Japanese. And my mother spoke Spanish, she spoke English, you know, broken English, but it was a fun time.

DC: What kind of cooking did she do, did she make New Mexican cuisine or Japanese cuisine?

ET: Well she learned to do the New Mexican, too.

MM: She learned to... well, all the Spanish ladies helped her so much, you know. She made the best chili beans, tortillas, tortillas and sopapillas, tamales, Mom really learned. But we didn't learn, did we?

ET: A little bit.

DC: Was being Japanese American a big part of your identity at that time before the war?

MM: We didn't notice any difference, you know. They, we went to school together, we went to their house and everything. It was nice. Of course, we were the only Japanese family in Albuquerque at that time. The others were intermarriage or Japanese men married to an English woman.

ET: A Spanish lady.

MM: And then a Spanish lady. And so we go over to their, visit them and it would be just a friendly visit.

DC: So there were other families in town where there was a Japanese husband and a non-Japanese wife?

MM: Yeah.

ET: Eventually more people moved in, but they have all moved away too.

DC: So can you tell me more about your parents' business in California?

MM: What they what?

DC: Your parents' business in California. What did they do and how were you involved?

MM: We had a grocery store, mainly produce.

ET: We had a meat market, too.

MM: Oh yeah, a meat market.

DC: What was it called?

ET: Well, you know something... I don't think...

MM: It was fun in California. We had to go to school, American school, then there's a Japanese school and, oh, for a while our Japanese was so poor we didn't do too well. [Laughs]

DC: Were there other Japanese students in your Monday through Friday school?

MM: Not here in Albuquerque.

ET: In California there were, yes. We had a lot of fun. We tried to keep in touch after that but then it's hard to. You lose count. But we had some good friends.

MM: We still have good friends.

DC: Were your parents planning on returning to Japan someday initially?

MM: Well, they thought about it but you know they never... after four kids, they couldn't make it go. Because we had another sister and then a brother.

DC: Did you grow up with any expectation that your family would be moving to Japan someday or did you grow up with the expectation that you'd be living here all your life?

MM: I think we just...

ET: I did. I just figured we'd be living in the U.S.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.