<Begin Segment 2>

AL: Okay. So tell me about your family, your parents' names.

AN: Well, my father's name is Sadayoshi Nishimoto, and he came from the island of Shikoku in Japan. Japan is divided into four main islands, Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku and Hokkaido. Well, he came from Shikoku when he was about seventeen years old. He left Japan and joined with the young kids about, yeah, with the young teenagers that all went to Hawaii, adventuresome. And he got there and he started working as a houseboy, that's where he started, and of course later on he met my mother. My mother is a Hawaiian-born Japanese American, so she's a Nisei. So anyway, so he met her and then got married.

AL: What is your mother's name?

AN: My mother's name is Maogo Tsueno, T-S-U-E-N-O, Tsueno Nishimoto, Maogo Tsueno Nishimoto. Her maiden --

AL: And how do you spell Maogo?

AN: M-A-O-G-O, Maogo.

AL: Okay.

AN: They called her Maogo, yeah.

AL: And when... do you know the date of birth of your father, the date and year he was born, or approximately?

AN: I had it, I forgot. I knew when he was born.

AL: Do you know about how old he was when you were born?

AN: He died... of course, he died many years ago, but he died when he was at my age, eighty-nine years old, and so did my mother, same age, they were both about eighty-nine years old, they both were, when they passed away, yes.

AL: What was the approximate age difference between them?

AN: About ten years. My father was older than she was.

AL: Do you know the name of the village in Shikoku that your dad came from?

AN: I know the prefecture, Kochi-ken, K-O-C-H-I, it's one of the prefectures, Kochi.

AL: Do you know what his family did in Kochi? Were they farmers or merchants or fishermen?

AN: I really don't know. I can't recall. Yeah, I think they were farmers over there, yeah. My dad was. Of course, he was just a young boy when he left.

AL: How many children were in his family?

AN: As far as I know, just he and his brother, but they could have had more. I have the genealogy.

AL: Okay.

AN: I have the complete genealogy of both my mother and his side. That's another story, going through the genealogy.

AL: Yeah, it's always interesting to see how people's parents, why they came over. So your mom you said was born in Hawaii. Do you know where her parents came from in Japan?

AN: Yeah. Her parents, my grandparents, they came from Hiroshima, Japan. That's where they came from, Hiroshima.

AL: And do you know, were they married when they came to Hawaii, or did your grandfather come over first?

AN: Yeah, they were married when they came here, as far as I know. I got a, I gathered their genealogy, I have all the dates when they were born and where they came in, and when they were married. I can't recall right now, but I've got a whole slew of 'em. [Laughs]

AL: You have a lot of information. So what did they do in Hawaii, your mom's parents? Do you know what they did in Hawaii?

AN: My grandpa? He was a carpenter, he was a carpenter when he first came, that's what he did, carpenter work.

AL: Is that the grandfather that you're named for?

AN: Yeah.

AL: And what was his last name?

AN: Kurata, K-U-R-A-T-A, Kurata.

AL: Did your mom have brothers or sisters?

AN: Yes. She had, she come from twelve, twelve brothers and sisters. She's the oldest among the girls. She's the number three child, she had two older brothers, and then the rest. So there were twelve of them. And today, I have her sister, which is my aunt, who's younger than I am. [Laughs]

AL: When you have a big family, that's not uncommon.

AN: Yeah. So I guess her mother and my mother gave birth the same time. It was almost same time, to my aunt. So my aunt is about a week younger than I am. [Laughs] And she's living, and her sister, that's all. The rest of them, the ten of them already just passed away. In fact, my uncle just passed away a couple of weeks ago, he was ninety-five, and now my two aunts are the only ones left.

AL: Wow. So do you know, were your parents, was it an arranged marriage in Hawaii? Did they pick each other, or did they have...

AN: No, I don't think it was arranged. It was meeting together, I guess, as far as I know, yeah.

AL: Do you know about what year they were, got married?

AN: Yes, I was born in 1923, so they were married in 1922 or '21, in that area.

AL: You're the oldest. How many other children did they have after you? Could you give me your brothers and sisters and their names?

AN: My mother's...

AL: Your brothers and sisters, yours?

AN: My own?

AL: Yeah.

AN: I have only one brother and one sister, we have three children. My brother George and my sister Marion, that's all I have. So we were only three children in our family.

AL: Are they still living?

AN: Yes, they're still living.

AL: And did Marion, does she have a married name?

AN: My sister Marion? Yes, uh-huh. Her name is Kawasaki, like Kawasaki motorcycle, that's her married name.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.