Densho Digital Archive - Susumu Yenokida Interview (denshovh-ysusumu-01-0004)

<Begin Segment 4>

RP: So, was, was the arrangement with your mom, was it a "picture bride" relationship or...

SY: Evidently the family that... my mom left my brother in Japan. The first born brother, in Japan. And 'til her death in 1967, she never revealed the fact that we had a brother in Japan.

RP: Oh.

SY: My sister-in-law won a scholarship from JACL league and the Japan Airlines, JAL. They had three, four people go to Japan as a emissary for... they were learning the culture of Japan from United States. And when she completed her course of about three months in Japan, leaving five kids at home -- and we helped raise those kids when she was gone -- and through her, she... after finishing her course she went to visit the relatives and the relatives say that, "This is your brother. Your husband's brother is sitting right here." And she was so astonished that she couldn't believe that we had a brother in Japan. And those are the people I visit. And those are the people... that's the reason why I had to relearn my language. Today I could go to Japan anywhere and not become ashamed of going anywhere. I'm no fear of running around in Japan.

RP: So I am assuming that your mom was married once before she met your dad?

SY: Evidently. Why that, that phase of her life --

RP: Was completely...

SY: -- she never revealed. Never, ever. Not one word. And she is gone now. I can't ask her.

RP: What was her name?

SY: Nuii, N-U-I-I, Nuii.

RP: And her maiden name?

SY: Ogihara, O-G-I-H-A-R-A, Ogihara. Yeah.

RP: And so your dad, after the railroad job, got into farming. Is that correct?

SY: Yeah, according to what I understand, they, they started some rice farming in that area, in the Biggs area, which is not too far from Chico. And evidently the, it was, it was successful for a few years but because of the adverse weather conditions, that they were flooded out also. So, he had to leave that entity and became a, a laundry person with another person. And then Mom worked at that laundry after she came from Japan. Yeah.

RP: Oh, okay.

SY: And that's where my brother Min was born, 1913.

RP: 1913.

SY: Yeah.

RP: How many other siblings did you have?

SY: I had, I had three other brothers besides myself. No, there was four of 'em.

RP: Younger than you?

SY: No, I'm the youngest.

RP: Okay, could you go down the order? You said Min is the oldest.

SY: Min... Min, Musashi -- no, Masashi, Isamu, Tsutomu, and myself.

RP: Uh-huh.

SY: I lost my brother Masashi before I ever was born. He was, died in 1924 due to a strangulation of the, of the appendicitis. I don't know why... they say that it did happen and that's what happened to him. Yeah.

RP: Uh-huh.