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KL: My name is Kristen Luetkemeier, I'm a park ranger at Manzanar National Historic Site, and I'm here today in the Culver City, California, home of Mitsue Nishio for an oral history interview. Today is August the 13th, 2014, and Whitney Peterson is also in the room, she's operating the camera. And Mitsue, before I start asking you questions, do I have your permission to record this interview and to talk to you today?

MN: I think so, it's okay.

KL: Thank you very much for that. I want to ask you first about your parents, who were immigrants to the United States. Would you tell us, first, your father's name and when he was born?

MN: His name was Senkichi Tsujimura. He was born in Japan, Hiroshima, Japan.

KL: Do you know the year he was born?

MN: Well, gee, I'll have to figure it out, but right now I can't think. I know he was born in Japan, Meiji era, Meiji 16, juuroku-nin, that's 16.

KL: I think around 1880s maybe. Would that be right?

MN: Eighteen-some, yeah, I could figure it out. Once I did, I knew what the... I forgot about the, how I figured it out.

KL: That's okay. What was his family background? What kind of work did his family do, or what...

MN: My father's, well, my grandfather, that's my grandfather, he was son of the, my grandfather's father owned a private school called Terakoya. Terakoya means, they didn't have any schooling, public schooling then, so kids had to go to Terakoya. That's why my grandfather's father, or -- so my grandfather never went to school, but he was a very well-educated man because his father was a smart man.

KL: Would you spell "Perakoya"?

MN: Huh?

KL: How do you spell "Perakoya"? The name of the school.

MN: Terakoya? T-E-R-A-K-O-Y-A, Terakoya.

KL: And what kind of subjects did it include?

MN: Mostly Japanese and mathematics. They didn't study too much about geography or history those days, just mainly Japanese language and writing and reading, and then mathematics. They used a, called a soroban, abacus or something you call it. Have one row on the top, five little balls like that, and you move it. Soroban, they used that and they didn't have any adding machine or anything.

KL: How do you spell soroban?

MN: Soroban, S-O-R-O-B-A-N. Soroban.

KL: Thank you. I may ask you to spell a lot of Japanese words because we hope to type these and that will be very helpful. [Laughs] Who were the students in the school?

MN: You mean my grandfather's? Well, most of the kids school age went, but they didn't have to go if they didn't want to. But some parents were so poor they needed kids to help make money, so they didn't go. They didn't all have to go to school.

KL: Where was the school?

MN: Excuse me?

KL: Where was the school?

MN: Hiroshima, Kamemachi. There's a town -- [coughs] sorry, if I talk too much my, I lose my voice.

[Interruption]

MN: -- eighty-four years old. That's an old age in those days.

KL: Yeah.

MN: Almost a hundred years ago, so he was eighty-four when he passed away.

KL: Your grandfather.

MN: My grandfather. And my grandmother died, she was seventies, seventy-six, I think.

KL: Was she educated also?

MN: No, my grandmother, she was raised by a stepmother. The stepmother had a lot of siblings, I mean a lot of kids, so my grandmother never had to go to, never go to school. She was the oldest, taking care of the little sister and brother, and when she was sixteen years old she married my grandfather. So my grandmother didn't have much schooling, but she was the nicest person I've ever known. Very warm and very kind.

KL: What were their names, your grandparents?

MN: My grandfather's named Ensuke, E-N-S-U-K-E, Ensuke. And my grandmother's name is Shige. It's S-H-I-G-E.

KL: And what was their last name?

MN: Tsujimura, same as my father's name.

KL: Do you know your grandfather's father's name? Ensuke, is that...

MN: My grandfather is Ensuke.

KL: Ensuke. Do you know his father's name?

MN: I think it was Matsutaro. M-A-T-S-U... Matsu... T-A-R-O. Matsutaro.

KL: Did you meet him ever?

MN: My grandfather's father? No, no. I knew my grandfather. He was already seventies, seventy-something, so his father was gone a long time ago.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.