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TI: So I want to ask first about your father's side of the family.

JG: Okay.

TI: And I'd thought we'd start with your grandfather Shiraki.

JG: Yes.

TI: So tell me first what his name was and where he was from.

JG: Okay, his name was Shinzo and he was from the Kumamoto area and he was, as I know, he was the first son and he was born... let's see, he was like eighteen or twenty-one when he came and that was in 1891 so that would put him around, what, the math around 1860, late 1860s. So anyway, because of Japan's history of samurai, the original family came from the Kyoto area and so 550 years ago I guess that great war between the daimyo and the other guy with last name begins with a K but I can't remember it. Anyway, Grandfather, because of that he was moved, his family was moved to Kumamoto from the Kyoto area and they collected taxes until 1867, they were in charge of that area. And so when that happened, when the samurai class was disbanded he learned... he was born I think a couple years after that because I think it was around (1873, 1874) around that time, was it? I can't remember exactly but so I understand that he was born later and then so his family, he had to... they had to struggle.

TI: Because all of a sudden they were before collecting taxes so kind of a bureaucrat in some ways?

JG: Yes.

TI: And then all of a sudden that was gone and now they had to make a living somehow.

JG: Yeah, they had to make a living. So somewhere in the collection of information from my dad, my grandfather learned tile making and he learned assorted things but he decided because -- and this was to answer your question -- he wanted the idea of social freedom. I mean, I guess class structure and struggling and being the first son, he just wanted to get out of it. So he must have had some amount of money because he was able to come to the United States in 1891 and we have that through census records and stuff. And so when he arrived in... I think they first came to somewhere in Vancouver and then came down and he settled in San Francisco and later settled in Alameda. And he worked for the railroad part of the time and then he worked as a house person for this family which I told you about, Mr. and Mrs. Landon. They became so important in his life that he became... they became my father's... my father was the first son.

TI: They became like the godparents?

JG: Exactly, they became the godparents of my father in 1911. But I think he started working for them around 1894, '95, so it was a long relationship. In fact I have a chair from them that's in my house that had gone from my grandparents to my dad and now is in my house and of course I have it reupholstered and I have some of the other chairs refinished. But I mean that's... there's a legacy there.

TI: Now when your father worked... so your grandfather worked as a house boy, did he live with the Landons?

JG: No, he didn't. He traveled to Alameda back and forth and the interesting story is... I think I shared this with you earlier is that when the 1906 earthquake and fire happened, he was asleep and he did not feel it but when he heard about it he took the ferry and assisted them. I mean, it was a very close relationship. After he did that he also, later on he wanted to get married and so he... there was an arranged marriage and his wife was quite a bit younger, my grandmother, Miyomo Matsushima, I think. So anyway he went back to Japan and they married in Japan and then she came over later on the ship because I have the manifest China and it was in January of 1911. And in some of the records or some of the oral history they say 1910. But I have the actual ship's manifest or whatever it is that tell the date. Anyway so my dad was born in, very legally November or December 1911.

TI: Okay, you mentioned oral histories. Were these oral histories of your grandparents or of your parents?

JG: These were oral histories given to me by my father. What happened... what was really interesting I thought was the fact that we tried to pin Dad down but he was so busy he really never told us. The way it happened was the grandsons, both grandsons, my son John and my nephew, Matthew, had to do written reports in junior high about their family background so of course they went to Grandpa. I also did a written report in junior high so these written reports in junior high for the three of us me, and my nephew and son started this because they really didn't talk about it.

TI: Oh, that's interesting. So when you did it in junior high, who did you interview? Did you interview your grandparents or your parents?

JG: My parents because I didn't really have a good understanding of Japanese, because World War II you weren't about to learn Japanese or go to Japanese school. At least not in my family.

TI: Okay, so that's kind of in some ways kind of interesting when you have these different oral histories to... taken at different times you can almost compare them too and see how that's person's story has changed over time. Did you see changes between when you did the oral history when you were in junior high school and then your son and nephew?

JG: Exactly, they got more human when my son and nephew did it. And there was different emphasis because of the interests of both boys. So that was... but then my aunt, my mother's sister-in-law, she lived with my grandmother and I think she was very impressed, Mitsu was very impressed with my grandmother. And so... well, that's another story.

TI: Okay, you're talking about your grandmother Miyomo?

JG: No, the other side.

TI: Oh, the other side.

JG: So that's why I'm stopping.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.