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KL: So they came eventually back to the United States, or for your mom's case, to the United States. Do you know about when that was?

MS: Well, it had to have been before 1926 when my sister was born. But I'm also guessing that my father settled in San Francisco because he had decided sometime before that he wasn't going to live in Utah. And I don't know when his older brother returned to Japan. So anyway, that's my assumption, that he decided sometime before he got back after marrying, to live in San Francisco.

KL: Did he go to Utah before? I guess I never pursued that.

MS: Yeah. When he first came to this country, he was seventeen years old. His age was easy to follow because he was born in the year 1900.

KL: Okay.

MS: Okay, so he was seventeen years old, so it had to be 1917. And this is where I believe that he went from Seattle to Utah and stayed with his older brother.

KL: And they came back and thought Utah was not the place to start life?

MS: Yeah.

KL: What was their work in San Francisco?

MS: Where? It was, let's see, very close to Post Street and Van Ness, I don't know exactly what the address is today.

KL: What kind of work did he do?

MS: He did grocery business, I think it was one of those arrangement with a grocery store to take care of their produce. I think he was engaged in that type of work for some grocery store.

KL: He was like a supplier?

MS: Not a supplier, no, not a supplier, but a caretaker of the vegetable and fruit stand of the grocery store.

KL: Did your mother have a job?

MS: That I don't know.

KL: So they were in San Francisco before 1926. Did they move around at all while they were there, or were they always in the same place?

MS: As far as I know, they didn't move around. I can only guess as to what could have happened.

KL: Your sister was born 1926. What was her name?

MS: Her name is Yachiyo, Y-A-C-H-I-Y-O. Middle name is Bessie, B-E-S-S-I-E. And her married name is Iwaoka, I-W-A-O-K-A.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.