Densho Digital Archive - Margaret Saito Interview (denshovh-smargaret

<Begin Segment 1>

KP: Today is...

MS: December 17, 2009. Right?

KP: Right. December 17, 2009. The day of the week is Thursday.

MS: Right.

KP: And we are at the Japanese Methodist Church in Sacramento on Franklin Street. And today we are interviewing Margaret Saito.

MS: Yes.

KP: And this will be archived at Manzanar National Historic Site, the interview. And the first thing I have to ask is do we have your permission to tape this interview?

MS: Yes.

KP: Okay, thank you very much. So let's start at the beginning.

MS: Okay.

KP: Can you once again tell us your name?

MS: Oh, Margaret Aiko Taguchi Saito.

KP: And when and where were you born?

MS: I was born in El Centro on March 14, 1933.

KP: And what were your parents' names?

MS: My father was George Juzo Taguchi and my mother was Helen Otome, her maiden name was Ishida Taguchi. And she was born in Kealakekua, Hawaii.

KP: So your mother was Nisei?

MS: Yes, both, my father was born in California.

KP: Where was he born?

MS: He was born, probably Monrovia, California.

KP: So it was your grandparents that came to the United States?

MS: Yes.

KP: So you are Sansei?

MS: I'm Sansei. I'm an old Sansei, yes.

KP: So do you know anything about where your father's family came from in Japan? What part of Japan?

MS: They were from the prefecture of Kumamoto. And my mother's side came from Fukuoka. Those are both on Kyushu. And I haven't been there but I have been to Japan twice.

KP: Do you know what your father's family did in Japan, what the background was?

MS: No, I don't. In California they have farmed all the time.

KP: When did your father's father, when did your grandfather come to the United States? Do you know?

MS: Oh, I don't know because he died when my father was about thirteen. So my father drove and did everything on the farm from a early age and he was the oldest son, he had an older sister, but he was the oldest son. So he did, he did go to high school and finish high school and I think he really enjoyed his high school years because he went to reunions forever. I mean, even when it was just a handful.

KP: And this was in Monrovia?

MS: Yes, that school was... I don't think they have it anymore, but it was Monrovia Arcadia Duarte. Those three towns that are close to each other and they would call it MAD. But I know it's not there, but I think that's where he met my mother. She came from... her brother brought her from Hawaii. I really don't know enough about her family or my father's family.

KP: So your father was farming in Monrovia?

MS: Yes.

KP: And your mother's family was --

MS: They worked coffee in Kona. That's where the Kona coffee comes from. So they, I have an old picture of her with her parents. That's the only picture I have of those parents and it's by coffee trees. So... and they still have that land. My cousin is working that land. She's a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant but on her off time she goes back to Kona and works that land. Because it's in the family, so she's the youngest of that family.

KP: So the family is still growing coffee?

MS: She is, yes.

KP: So, do you have brothers and sisters?

MS: Yeah, I have... my sister is the only child with my mother. My father and mother divorced during, when we were in camp. And then after the war he married a Florence Yamamura and they have three children. They all live in that same area where my father lived before the war. Two are in Hacienda Heights and one in Covina. And so we're still close to them, and we get together, we've had reunions. We had a reunion in Las Vegas last New Year's. Well, this, it was just 2009 New Year's. And then we've had a reunion in Maui where their families and our families got together. So it's been very nice.