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RP: And so your father settled, he came to the United States and the first thing he did was find work on the railroad?

TM: No. He went to Idaho. Landed in San Francisco in 1906, earthquake? When they had the earthquake. So nobody to check on him, immigration and all that. And he went to work on a restaurant and things like that. But he knew there was not much future in that so he went to Idaho, became a sheep herder. He lived in a covered wagon herding sheep. Yeah.

RP: Did he tell you any stories about that?

TM: Oh, yeah, he told me stories about that. About he was involved with... well, he had his dog taking care of the sheep and the dog was, came back hurt one day and had a fight with a coyote or something. And, things like that, yeah. And then I guess he got tired of that life, then he went to Utah and the coal mines.

RP: And that was, was that at Park City, too?

TM: Oh, I don't know what part of Utah he stayed at but that's where he stayed, I mean, he did, worked as a coal miner. And then my, one of my mother's cousin, he, they came from a pretty good family, so he came here to, for education. But he ran out of money and he went to the coal mine and he met my father. And he told my father, "I'm going back to Japan. I'm gonna find you a wife." So, my mother was a "picture bride."

RP: And your mother came from the same village or?

TM: No, she came from Esumi.

RP: Oh, Esumi.

TM: Esumi, yeah.

RP: How do you spell that?

TM: E-S-U-M... Esu, Esu, mi.

RP: I.

TM: M-I. Yeah. Esumi.

RP: And where is that located?

TM: Not too far from Shimozato. You know, Shimozato is here and then Kushimoto, that's a peninsula, and it's on this side, not too far away.

RP: So the cousin was kind of a go-between, or the baishakunin.

TM: Yeah, yeah. So she came as a "picture bride," yeah.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright (c) 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.