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RP: This is an oral history for the Manzanar National Historic Site in partnership with the Densho Legacy Project. Today we are talking with Yoshimi Watada and we'll be discussing Yoshimi's life in the Imperial Valley and later on in Colorado as a Japanese American growing up in the area. We'll be talking also about her family's experiences during World War II as a relocated family in Colorado. Her interview is taking place at the Marriott Residence Inn in Denver, Colorado. Our date is May 15th, Thursday, 2008 and our interviewer is Richard Potashin and videographer Kirk Peterson. This interview will be archived in the Manzanar National Historic Site's library. And Yoshimi, it's a pleasure to, to ask, be able to spend a little time with you, sharing, talking about family history. And we're gonna start right at the very beginning with your birth date and birth place.

YW: I was born in, on August 23, 1935, in Brawley, California.

RP: And give us your name at birth.

YW: Yoshimi Hasui... that's it.

RP: You were telling me, when we talked earlier, about the meaning of your first name and your last name.

YW: Oh, that was my father, my father's... oh, the meaning of my name.

RP: Your name.

YW: Oh. Yoshi is "good" and mi is "beautiful." So my --

RP: And Hasui?

YW: Oh, that's "lotus," it means "lotus."

RP: Okay. And were you born in a hospital or --

YW: Yes.

RP: -- were you delivered at home?

YW: (No). We were living in Niland but they had no hospital in Niland so my mother went to the hospital in Brawley and that's where I was born, in Brawley.

RP: Oh, okay. And...

YW: Are you familiar with that area?

RP: A little bit. Can you tell us where Niland is located?

YW: It's in the Imperial Valley. Do you know where the Imperial Valley... El Centro...

RP: Near the Salton Sea?

YW: Yes, near the Salton Sea.

RP: Okay.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.