Densho Digital Archive - Akiko Okuno Interview (denshovh-oakiko-01-0004)

<Begin Segment 4>

KL: Was his trip back to Japan, when he and your mom connected, do you think it was, was that the first trip back to Japan he had made?

AO: That I do not know. And I don't know how many years he was here before he went back.

KL: How long was he back in -- oh, go ahead.

AO: That I don't know, how long he was there until he came back, but he came back before Yoshi was born.

KL: Oh, okay. So he went and they married, and then he came back and she remained?

AO: Yeah, she was pregnant. Well, she needed to finish out her contract here, teaching, and so he came back. And then she followed after. And I don't have any of the letters that they may have exchanged during that time.

KL: What was their relationship like when you knew them?

AO: It was a very caring, and much respect for each other. And they were always in conversation with each other. And my mother and my father discussed everything with me. And now that I'm an adult, I can appreciate her. I just recently was speaking with one of my sisters and saying how wise she was.

KL: In what sense?

AO: In a lot of sense, in living, in life, and the decisions. I remember meeting someone who was saying that, "Your mother was a pioneer." And I think so, she must have been adventurous, because she had an offer of a very prestigious job, and that's why her brother wanted her to stay and take the job.

KL: What was the job?

AO: To be teaching in the Imperial household, which is really special, and she turned her back on that. And so that's why he never forgave her for that. Because it would have --

KL: It helped him out, too, or brought his --

AO: -- brought the family a lot of...

KL: You said he didn't forgive her ever?

AO: I don't think so. He held it against her.

AL: Was that before she was married?

AO: Yeah. Well, she had this... no, it may have been after she married, or it was after she met my father and made the decision she was going to marry him and come here. And that's why he refused to help her at all to come.

KL: Did she work after she came to the United States? I mean, did she teach or did she have a profession...

AO: Yes, after we were a little bit older, she was... let's see. Well, we lived in Cienega... yes, she was teaching. Because my sister could drive the car then, and drive her to the house. And then in 1935, '34, when I was nine, so '35, we moved to Gilroy.