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AL: What about your mother's family, where were they from?

YN: My mother's family, her parents... I don't know if both her parents came from Yamaguchi-ken and they settled in Hawaii. I don't know exactly what they did, I think her father was in some kind of building, and he built some small cottages where tourists could come and stay. And my mother would help in maintaining those cottages, and at one time, a family came and liked my mother, and agreed to pay for her passage to the mainland in exchange for a year's service. And while she was here it was that she met my father.

AL: And what was your mother's name at birth?

YN: My mother's name was Fujiko Doris Yasutake.

AL: Yasutake?

YN: Uh-huh.

AL: And how many children are in her family, siblings?

YN: There are six total. Four, she has four brothers and two sisters. Does that make six?

AL: So there are seven including her?

YN: Let's see, one, two, three, four girls and two boys, I'm sorry.

AL: And do you remember all their names? It's a big family.

YN: It's a big family. Henry and Isamu, I don't know if he had an English name. And when they were young, they went to Japan. One stayed with their mother's family and one stayed with their father's family. And then her older sister Hanako was born, and then my mom was... oh, no, and then Joanne, and then my mother's the third daughter, and then Beatrice is the fourth daughter.

AL: Do you recall your mom's parents' names?

YN: Oh, goodness. I think my... I don't want to make a mistake. Manpei was my father, M-A-N-P-E-I, and my mother's... I'm sure I know it someplace.

AL: And we can get that later, too, get information. So did your mother ever share any stories of growing up in Hawaii?

YN: I guess her mother was a seamstress also, and she would buy a bolt of cloth, and all the girls would have the same dress. And so they said, "Oh, well, that's a Yasutake girl," because it was recognizable. I know she worked at the Dole pineapple factory when she was older. Not really.

AL: So your grandfather you said, did he own his guest cottages?

YN: I think so, after he built them. I mean, very slowly, one by one.

AL: Did she have any other brothers or sisters who came over to the mainland, or did she just come by herself?

YN: Well, she came by herself with this American family. And eventually, quite a bit later, her oldest brother came. And then the two younger sisters. Her younger sister, when she was in her teens, wanted to study in Japan, and then the war broke out and she got, she couldn't come back. So my mother always thinks of her as being the, educated in all the Japanese arts, the dancing and kimono making and the embroidery.

AL: Which sister was that?

YN: This is Beatrice.

AL: And so she was there for the whole war?

YN: Yes.

AL: Do you know if they were in contact during the war?

YN: I don't know.

AL: Do you know the name of the family that hired your mother from Hawaii, or where they lived?

YN: I do. Yes, but I don't remember it now.

AL: That's okay. Did she ever talk at all about how she felt about coming to the mainland by herself? I mean, that's a big step.

YN: Yes. Well, she didn't really talk about it except that it was a long, a long time on a steamship. But she didn't say too much about missing her family, which I'm sure she did. I remember her saying when she got married -- she was to stay a year and she liked it in California, so she stayed a second year. But after the two years she did go back home, but since she had met my father, he wanted her to come back to California. And so she did, and they got married. But I think the sad part was that none of her family could come for the wedding.

AL: How would you describe her sense of adventure?

YN: Oh, well, she was very good about that. You know, willing to try, and then, of course, she and my father traveled quite a bit when they were able. And since my father had a business, I think that he worked, he worked a lot on weekends, long days. And so a vacation was to kind of get away, the only way he would be away from work. And he was able to paint.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.