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DG: Can you say your full name?

SH: Well, my name is Sachi Hiromoto.

DG: What was your maiden name?

SH: Tokunaga.

DG: And where were you born?

SH: I was born in Sacramento... hospital, one of the hospitals. But I think I had, what's that... I think it was a Japanese hospital that had this midwife, I think. Yeah, I think so.

DG: I think I've seen a picture of that. And what year was that?

SH: January 18, 1925.

DG: And where were your parents from?

SH: They're from Kumamoto, Japan, both of 'em.

DG: Did they come to Sacramento? Or where, where did they, did they live in Clarksburg, did they live in...

SH: Yes.

DG: So Clarksburg.

SH: They came to Clarksburg, yeah.

DG: But they went to Sacramento to have children.

SH: Yes, right.

DG: And how many siblings?

SH: I have six. But I lost a brother, so there's six of us left, yes.

DG: And are you the oldest like George?

SH: Yes.

DG: What were your parents' names?

SH: Kohei, K-O-H-E-I, and Ume, U-M-E.

DG: Tokunaga.

SH: Yes.

DG: And did they meet here, or did they come --

SH: No, they were married in Japan, and my dad went after her. He was in America first with his father and then he went back after her.

DG: And they farmed in the Clarksburg area?

SH: Yes, back here.

DG: What did they farm?

SH: My father, at first seemed like he was into more seed crops, like onion and carrots and beets, and then later on he got into sugar beets, and then tomatoes. Yeah.

DG: How many acres did they have?

SH: [Laughs] I don't know. I used to hear about a couple hundred, so I don't know. I'm not sure.

DG: So a lot smaller than the...

SH: Yeah.

DG: [Coughs] Excuse me.

George Hiromoto: Yeah, we were big time farmers.

DG: Sounds like it.

JS: That's right.

GH: Yeah, well, there's a lot of big time farmers here, the old timers. They're all my friends. They're all good friends, yeah. If you want to meet them, you should meet them. One of 'em was there at the school, Mark, Mark Wilson.

JS: Yes, I, uh-huh.

GH: His family had one of the biggest individual, individual wine grape grower.

JS: We do want to visit him, his winery.

GH: Yeah, I want you to visit David, but Mark's the one to talk to.

JS: Okay.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.