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KP: So your father leaves 1904, 1905. Where does he come to in the United States?

GM: He came... well, first, the entry was either San Francisco or Seattle, so he came in San Francisco.

KP: Did he have family here?

GM: No, he was all by himself. And he was an ordinary farmhand. That's why most of the people came, you know. They, either they became fishermen or farmers, what their trade used to be back in Japan.

KP: And where, do you know where he worked?

GM: He, he worked all up and down from in Imperial Valley from sometimes Arizona, all the way up to Sacramento area. He followed the crop. They pick peaches and oranges, whatever.

KP: Do you know if he ever went back to Japan?

GM: Oh, yeah, he was went back about three, four times. He used to pride himself that he was one of the few that made periodic trips back, 'cause most of the people that came here, they were, it was a mouth to mouth living. They didn't have much to... no savings.

KP: So when your father, when did he kind of settle down and when did he get married?

GM: He went back and he married my mother. I guess it was around 1922, thereabouts, 'cause she came just before the embargo on all the immigration. So they settled in San Francisco and he used to do what's called day work. It's kind of like handyman janitor combination, anything that people wanted done. And they used to work out of an employment agency that sent people to different houses, but he was a good worker so he got a lot of repeat business. They would ask for him. (...) They couldn't pronounce his first name, so they called him Henry. So he picked up the name Henry.

KP: And what was his name?

GM: Morikichi.

KP: Could you spell that, please?

GM: M-O-R-I-K-I-C-H-I.

KP: And your mother's name?

GM: Kura. K-U-R-A.

KP: What was her maiden name?

GM: Sugitani.

KP: Now, was she from the same area as your father?

GM: Oh, yeah. Same.

KP: Was it arranged marriage?

GM: I think that they were introduced somehow, but I don't, I won't say it was arranged.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.