Densho Digital Archive - Rose Tanaka Interview (denshovh-trose

<Begin Segment 4>

AL: And you said to us a little bit earlier that your mom was a "picture bride." What do you know about how that transpired? Or could you explain for someone who doesn't know what picture brides were, or how that worked?

RT: Well, because in the United States these young immigrant men were not able to marry outside of their own group, and it worked both ways. Not only did the American people want Japanese men to take American brides, but in Japan, they also frowned upon their people marrying Caucasian women, for instance. And so, of course, arranged marriages were part of the culture in Japan, throughout, and it persisted until even when I was a young person. And so he had, my father had come over with a friend, a slightly older friend, who happened to know my mother's family, and sort of got her interested in coming.

AL: So was he the baishakunin for them?

RT: I wouldn't say he was the actual baishakunin. The baishakunin was in Japan probably, and worked with this young man. And being that my mother's family had so many young women who needed husbands, I guess my mother decided she would try this. And they exchanged pictures, and if they decided just on sight that this was okay, then they would agree to this. Of course, they exchanged information also. But you can see that he probably dressed himself up for his picture, looked like something other than a laborer. [Laughs]

AL: Well, it sounds like at least he sent his own picture. I mean, you hear stories of men who sent some other guy's picture, or some picture of themselves ten years younger.

RT: Yes, I've heard about men who would send pictures of themselves standing in front of a mansion on Nob Hill and sending them over to Japan, and of course, that was very impressive to the young women over there, because they were interested in a very successful man. And I've also heard that when the ships came over with these women, and the fellows went down to the docks to greet the ships, then they would look and they would look the women over, and they decide, "Well, let's see, that one I think is better than the other one." They'd hold their pictures up and they decide. So I think sometimes that got mixed up in the process. There were all kinds of stories, but I don't know how true it is.

AL: Well, hopefully your parents got the right pictures. It sounds like they did.

RT: Well, yes, I think they did.

AL: Because if not, they have whole family in...

RT: They'd have a little trouble in the family. [Laughs]

AL: Do you know how and where they married? You said they married the day she arrived?

RT: Yes. Of course, she had to go to, what was it, Angel Island or something to get processed. And then they met, and I'm sure this Christian minister, the one that was there to help these young men, probably got, did the work and got them, their marriage licenses and performed the ceremony, and that was it. The next day they were husband and wife, and starting off on a long, precarious marriage.

AL: Aren't they all? It was interesting because people talk so much now about internet dating, and really, this is kind of like internet dating a hundred years ago. You don't quite know what you're getting, but...

RT: Well, they tried to do a little bit of investigating before.

AL: Do you know what their living situation was early on? Did they rent a room, did they have an apartment?

RT: Oh, I don't know. Probably had to rent a room, or had friends who were able to put them up. And they tried to become independent, and they didn't talk about it very much.

AL: Did your mom work at that time?

RT: I think she probably was just a helpmate, and it seemed like she, they had a shop or something, they tried doing a little shop where she cooked and made food and that kind of thing. But she was mainly just having babies and taking care of the family.