<Begin Segment 2>

RP: Tell us a little bit about your parents' background. Your father, first of all, his name?

KO: His name was Mitsuyuki, yeah, Mitsuyuki, and last name was whatever he translated the last name into. That's the way I got it now, is the way he translated. And he came over, I guess, somewhere around the turn of the century. I'm not quite sure, maybe even just before, but he never was quite specific. And I doubt if he really knew, 'cause at that time, he didn't speak any English. And he came as an immigrant. Of course, he was able to get an... what do you call it? Immigration permit...

RP: A visa?

KO: Yeah, visa, yeah, that's it. He wasn't, he was proud of the fact that he wasn't one of the indentured laborers that came over. He had a visa, immigration visa, and came in directly.

RP: Where did he come into, do you remember?

KO: From what he said, he apparently came through immigration in, whatever that place in Seattle was at that time. And got off the boat, went through immigration, took another boat down to San Francisco and came through Angel Island at that time. And I guess got a job in San Francisco as a houseboy, apparently. And he didn't speak English, and from what he says, he had a wonderful way -- I shouldn't say wonderful -- he had a devil of a time with the language. Because the people worked for was a French couple who came from France, and they spoke, you might say, "Frenchicized" English and he couldn't speak. [Laughs] And the combination was that neither could speak English properly. So they had a terrible time trying to communicate. But apparently, I guess he worked for them until the San Francisco earthquake. And then everybody got driven out. And that's part of the reason why we don't know much about (what) his original papers, stuff with, all the documentation he had was lost in the earthquake. He had abandoned his trunk and possessions, and getting away from that fire they had. He had to abandon it in a park, and by the time he got back, his baggage and everything had been gone through by all the bums and stuff, and scattered around so he couldn't find his possessions anymore. About all he had left was what he was wearing and carrying.

RP: Where did he immigrate from in Japan? What part of Japan?

KO: As far as I could tell, it was Yamaguchi-ken or something like that, the mainland part near Tokyo or near Kyoto or whatever it was that, I guess it was Tokyo at that time. But he was somewhere near the mainland. And, let's see. I'm not sure whether he was near the coast or one of the inland prefectures or something.

RP: Did he ever talk much about his family in Japan, his mother and father, brothers and sisters?

KO: Not particularly. He had an elder brother who was in the Russo-Japanese war and in the army. And he made light colonel by the time he retired just before World War II. So he was, his elder brother apparently was the supply corps type. And made light colonel, and then apparently he got a few decorations for his service in the Russo-Japanese War.

RP: Were there any other siblings or members of his family that came over to the United States?

KO: His sister, I guess his sister, next younger sister I think it was, one closest to him, came over. And she was my aunt, she lived over there in the Oakland side of the Bay Area.

RP: Of the Bay.

KO: My cousins, first cousins by that group, few of them are still around. Every now and then I visit them to find out whether they're still kicking or not. [Laughs] Keep in, they keep in touch. I sort of try to keep in touch once a year just to make sure that somebody knows where, who is. And anyway, she came over...

RP: Did she come over about the time that your father did?

KO: No, about, probably about ten or twenty years later, I think, much later than that.

RP: Did your father...

KO: Pardon?

RP: I was going to say, did your father ever express what his desire to come to the United States was? His motivation for coming here?

KO: Oh, yeah, yeah. He had some very personal reasons, he wanted the... I think the main reason, what I got the impression was that his family wanted him to marry somebody, and he didn't want to. [Laughs] And he managed to get his visa and he took off. My aunt, his sister, I guess married a guy that was, went back there to get married and came back with the husband. She came, when she got here, she was essentially married.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.