<Begin Segment 1>

MA: So today is July 28, 2008, and I'm here with Kitako -- I'm sorry, Kitako Izumizaki. And I'm Megan Asaka, the interviewer, and on the camera is Dana Hoshide. And we're in Wastsonville, California, at Kizuka Hall, which is the home of the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. So thank you so much for doing this interview.

KI: I'm happy to be here to meet you.

MA: So when were you born?

KI: November, 22, 1921.

MA: And where were you born?

KI: Right here in Watsonville.

MA: And what was the name given to you at birth?

KI: Kitako, Kitako Tsuda.

MA: Tsuda.

KI: Yes, T-S-U-D-A.

MA: And what was your father's name?

KI: Yomoya.

MA: Yomoya Tsuda.

KI: Uh-huh.

MA: And where was he from in Japan?

KI: Ehime-ken, Shikoku.

MA: And we had talked earlier about Shikoku, and not very many Issei came from there.

KI: Yes.

MA: Can you talk about why?

KI: They were very particular. They didn't want members from their ken to come to a, go to a foreign country and then be destitute and then be in somebody else's care. So they said, "You must have a way to make a living," a trade or something. So he had brought over a barber... no, it was clockmaking tools just as an excuse, 'cause he didn't know a thing about clock or watchmaking. [Laughs] So that was the excuse, and he was able to come over.

MA: And what year did he come over to the U.S.?

KI: I think the closest I can figure would be... I must have, 1914, probably, I don't think any earlier than that.

MA: And did he settle in Watsonville when he first came over?

KI: Very close, yes, all around. Watsonville seemed to have been a very open place where they all gathered, evidently.

MA: And when he came to Watsonville, did he start farming then?

KI: Not on his own. It was all working for other people. Most of them -- you know in the olden days, they used to, all the bachelors, they used to get together, sort of like live in a camp-like, and they'd all hire out work, and that's the way he did.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Watsonville - Santa Cruz JACL. All Rights Reserved.