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KP: First we'll slate the tape. My name is Kirk Peterson, and with me today is Richard Potashin, and we're shooting this interview for Manzanar National Historic Site, it will be archived at the site. And today we're interviewing Yukiko Miyahara?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: And we are at... what's your address here?

YM: 3416 Hershey Street, San Diego.

KP: In San Diego, California. So let's, let's get started here. And today is April 10, 2009. So let's start, first of all, when and where you were born.

YM: November 29, 1919, Venice, California.

KP: And your given name at birth was?

YM: Yukiko Miyahara, I mean, Yukiko Nojima.

KP: Do you know what your first name means?

YM: It's supposed to mean prosperity or something like that. I don't really know.

KP: And what do you know about your mother and father? Where was your father born?

YM: I don't know what year he was born.

KP: Where? Do you know where he was born?

YM: Where in Japan?

KP: Yeah.

YM: Tottori, Japan.

KP: Where's that again?

YM: Tottori-ken.

KP: And can you spell that for us? I'll ask you to spell a lot of things, 'cause we're gonna have people writing these down. They might have trouble with some of the spellings.

Off camera voice: T-O-T-T

YM: Yeah, she knows. T-O-T-T-O-R-I, Tottori. I think so, Tottori-ken.

KP: And your father's name?

YM: Shikazo Nojima.

KP: Do you know what your father's family did in Japan?

YM: No, I don't. I have no idea.

KP: And where was your mother from?

YM: Same place, Tottori-ken, Japan.

KP: Was it an arranged marriage?

YM: No, she was, what you call that? "Picture bride."

KP: When did your father come to the United States?

YM: I actually don't know. All I know is my mother came in 1916.

KP: So what are the... in what order are your brothers and sisters?

YM: My brother was the oldest.

KP: And his name was?

YM: Roy. He had a Japanese name but we called him Roy.

KP: Do you know what his Japanese name was?

YM: Ryohe.

Off Camera: R-Y-O-H-E.

KP: And he was born in?

YM: Venice, California.

KP: And then there was you?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: And who's next?

YM: Tomoko Yata. (...) She was the only one that wasn't born in Venice. I don't know where... they used to call it Greenmead, I don't know. I was only a child so I don't... I just know what my parents tell me. So, and so...

KP: And then after Tomoko?

YM: It was Nagatoshi Nojima, and he was born in Venice. And Harutoshi was born in Venice.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.