<Begin Segment 3>

TI: So I want to start now with your father. Can you tell me your father's name and where he's from?

WM: Kumamoto-ken, someplace.

TI: Kumamoto. And do you know... and what was your father's name?

WM: Inouye. [Addressing wife] Hey, Mom, Father's first name was Inouye or what? See, my dad's name's from his wife's side, Matsuoka. Ogata. Ogata.

TI: Ogata. Oh, so it was kind of like, so he took the name of his wife's family.

WM: Yeah.

TI: Okay. Ogata.

WM: Yeah, Ogata.

TI: And what was his first name?

WM: My wife?

TI: No, your dad's first name was...

WM: Tomio. Tomio's Japanese.

TI: Tomio. Tomio Ogata. And do you know when he came to the United States?

WM: [Shakes head] I think he's in there, I think. [Referring to some papers.]

TI: Okay, so we'll get that later. How did, do you know how your father met your mother?

WM: That's... he didn't tell nothing, except cousin, too. See, my cousin was in Hawaii, he didn't tell. Then after that, when we came back, niece and nephew make friend with the family.

TI: Do you know the story of why he took your mother's family name? So he was Ogata, and then went to Matsuoka.

WM: Because the other side, no kids. So my dad married second time. The wife died.

TI: Okay, so this was your father's second marriage to Ogata?

WM: Ogata is (his original) name, then he, take the woman and he used Matsuoka.

TI: Okay, so he was Ogata, then he married Matsuoka. In his first marriage, did he have any children? No children?

WM: No, one, Bessie.

TI: Oh, so Bessie is like a half... stepsister, okay. And was Bessie born in the United States, or in Japan?

WM: I think United States. Huh?

JS: USA.

WM: It got all the name in there. My dad, you know that paper? They got all my family name in there.

JS: Good.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.