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RP: Let's talk a little bit about your father, Kats. Can you give us his name?

KO: Masaru. I think he came over about fourteen years old with my grandpa and grandma along with two brothers.

RP: Was he, was he the youngest brother or the oldest brother?

KO: He was the oldest brother.

RP: He was. And do you know why, why his parents brought the family over?

KO: No real reason. I think my, my understanding, my grandfather did not want to farm. He was rather adventurous and he turned the farm over there over to his younger brother and he came to this country. He first tried Hawaii, but he didn't care for the atmosphere, 'cause I think everybody was on these plantations. So he came over here and loved Bainbridge Island. So I think he had a small greenhouse right by the Port Blakely or the old ferry dock. That's what I was told.

RP: So he established himself in agriculture.

KO: Yes, a greenhouse, small business.

RP: Growing flowers or vegetables?

KO: No, vegetables. And he had some strawberries, but it didn't last too long. I think he started, he was ill, he started getting ill. But he had sent my father to school in Seattle, and I think my father, if I recall, stayed with a doctor or someone, and did all the outside work, the tasks like a houseboy.

RP: A houseboy.

KO: And he went through school.

RP: So he graduated high school?

KO: Yes, he did, that's what I understand.

RP: Did he ever talk to you at all about those early years in the United States?

KO: Not really as much, because I think the war interrupted that part or I think we as kids were adult enough to start asking questions and...

RP: You said that your dad's father was ill and he eventually went back to Japan?

KO: No, he went back several times.

RP: For treatment.

KO: Yes.

RP: What was his problem?

KO: I really don't know. I knew he had very poor eyesight and he coughed a lot. It could have been emphysema, too, I'm not sure.

RP: But he chose to go to Japan for treatment rather than America?

KO: Yes, that's what I understand. Then what happened, my dad, my father then took over the business. They sold the greenhouse and they started a grocery store in Seattle. This was well before I was born.

RP: Would that have been in Japan? The Japantown area of Seattle?

KO: Pardon?

RP: The Japantown area of Seattle?

KO: Yes. It's up the First Hill. It's not way downtown, not International District. It is on the First Hill, Eleventh Avenue and Fir Street.

RP: Your grandmother stayed in this country?

KO: No, she came over with him and I saw the manifest at the National Museum where she brought a couple of the boys over with her. I have the manifest, I have copies of it. She brought the boys over.

RP: So your father was running this store, did he actually own the store?

KO: Yeah, he owned the store.

RP: Do you remember the name of the store?

KO: I think it's Joe's grocery store, I think.

RP: Uh-huh. Kind of like what we refer to as a mom and pop neighborhood store?

KO: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: What do you remember about the store? Did you eventually work in the store?

KO: No, I did not. I was too young and he did all the work. My mom would help out. I remember he would sit there polishing all the fruit. He would line it up like you wouldn't believe. And I heard old customers say they never saw somebody have such a beautiful display of fruit, all polished up. He worked very hard, I know.

RP: As a kid growing up, what do you remember most about your father?

KO: Oh, my father was very interested in fishing, salmon fishing, very interested in sports. Now, my brother was a lot better athlete than I was; I was decent, but he was a star and everything. My dad would drive him around, we were fortunate to have a car, and he would drive him to all the, and other people to the games, but my dad was very interested in that. I remember I used to throw as hard as I can to him and he'd catch the ball and not even flinch. So he was, he was a good dad. He encouraged us to participate in sports.

RP: How about education? Was he pretty, was he pretty strict about, did he have plans for his...

KO: No, he was not. I think my mother was more influential that way and of course, my two older sisters being older would do it, but my mother did have a pretty good education in Japan so she pushed our studies as number one.

KP: Can I ask a question? Where did your mother and father meet, or how did they meet? What circumstances?

KO: By picture, it was promised a long time ago, I think, is that yoshi, or whatever, the "picture bride" routine, but they were promised a long time ago.

KP: Before he left Japan?

KO: Pardon?

KP: Before he left Japan, you think they were promised?

KO: Yeah, I think it was by families, I think, it was planned. I'm trying to get the history now. But she went to a girls' school and things, so she was, I understand from her brothers that she was rather spoiled. [Laughs]

RP: I think, I think kids went up to the eighth grade in Japan?

KO: Yeah.

RP: And then some went on to...

KO: A girls' school, yeah.

RP: A girls' school. That was pretty exclusive.

KO: Yeah, some of the refinements. But she didn't get to utilize much because we didn't have the money.

RP: What do you remember about her?

KO: She was the one that spoke up more. I guess I was kinda close to her because my brother was very close to my dad because he was a real good athlete. [Laughs] I was still close to my dad.

RP: Did you get spoiled quite a bit?

KO: Who?

RP: You.

KO: No. No, we were the ones, my younger sister and I talk about it even today, that we were the ones rather ignored because we were the two young ones. Of course, she got all the tap dance lessons and things, and I was the younger brother, you know.

RP: Was there, was there anybody in the family that was musically inclined?

KO: Not really, although my two older sisters took piano lessons. We had a piano, actually, in a small living room. Yeah, they took piano lessons. I remember some recitals.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.