Densho Digital Archive - Shiuko Sakai Interview (denshovh-sshiuko-01-0001)

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KL: This is Kristen Luetkemeier speaking, a park ranger at Manzanar National Historic Site. I'm here with Shiuko Sakai, and it's July 10, 2012, and we're here for an oral history interview. And with us, our host of fantastic volunteers, Denver Kessler is operating the camera. Helping out with technical aspects also are Dennis Chapel and Steve Kammeyer, and Tomiko Takeuchi, who's helped with the organization is also here and may come and go during the interview. And Shiuko, do I have your permission to conduct the interview and to keep it at Manzanar and make it available to the public?

SS: Yes.

KL: Okay. Great, well, thank you for doing this. You're the first one of this Portland visit for me, so this is, yeah, I really appreciate your participating in this. And I wanted to ask you to start off, since you know some things about your parents, I wanted to hear a little bit about your parents. We'll start with your dad...

SS: What little I know. My mother told me that she was born in Miyajima, Japan, and her mother died when she was very young, so she was raised by a nurse, and her brother really spoiled her. And at the time she was living in Japan, girls weren't, they didn't want girls to go to school, be educated. However, she did go, and she was really... well, nowadays we call it "bullied," they made fun of her and they taunted her.

KL: Were there other girls in her school?

SS: I think there were, but not too many.

KL: What was her name?

SS: Miyo Korenaga.

KL: Okay.

SS: And my father...

KL: [Clicks pen] I'm just going to write some things, too, so I don't forget 'em if I want to ask you a question.

SS: ...was born in Hiroshima, Japan.

KL: Uh-huh.

SS: And he was studying to be a boat captain, is what I understand, and he was on a ship to America. And the story we were told is that he jumped ship, he decided to stay.

KL: Tomiko and I were talking about that yesterday, how people did that.

SS: And he worked in Seattle, Washington, and somehow he was able to go back and got, married my mother and brought her back to Seattle, Washington.

KL: So he just left the ship in Seattle?

SS: Left the ship is what I understand. How he did it, I don't know.

KL: Do you know anything about his schooling, where he studied?

SS: No, I don't. That's about it.

KL: What was his name, your father?

SS: Yoshio.

KL: What was... you said your mom grew up with her brother and she was raised...

SS: Her brother raised her; she had a nurse.

KL: Were they just two kids? Were there other siblings?

SS: Well, I think her brother was married and they had children, but he took care of her. They were businessmen, her brother and her father. They used to have a kind of business.

KL: Do you know what they did, what the business was?

SS: No, I don't. But they did have a store. Maybe they were... I really don't know. I'm just guessing.

KL: And tell me again where she was from in Japan?

SS: Miyajima.

KL: Okay. Is that near Hiroshima?

SS: It's the island where they have the torii, the red gate in the ocean?

KL: Oh, okay. Yeah, okay, yeah. So she and your father knew each other, or their families knew each other?

SS: That I don't know, but they go through contacts. Maybe somebody knew somebody needed a wife.

KL: Were they married in Japan?

SS: Yes.

KL: So did your father come back for the marriage?

SS: Yes. She was not a "picture bride."

KL: Did he go back to Japan other times?

SS: No.

KL: Did he talk about that trip ever?

SS: You know, we never asked. They never said anything. Well, we were, first of all, we were too young at that time. And after we grew older, we weren't interested, I think.