Densho Digital Archive - Lois Yuki Interview (denshovh-ylois-01-0003)

<Begin Segment 3>

RP: Did she, did your mother talk at all about the Depression years on the farm?

LY: Yes. She said something about keeping the money in a bank, bank called, it's Bank of Italy. If you had money in a bank, people has to line up and hoping to get the money out. So she always remembered that. But our grandparents and my aunties and uncles and my mom, they were not well-to-do. They were, you know, very, very, what do you call, just meeting everyday needs. So they didn't have any extra money. I found out lately more I talk to the older people and people with many, well, any number of boys in the family, they were well-to-do compared to the other families. So I said wow, no wonder Sakakiharas and Yamadas were a lot well... and then Taharas, who is Grandma's relatives. And I said no wonder. [Laughs]

RP: Of the seven kids, your mom being one of them...

LY: Yeah, she was the oldest and the youngest auntie, she's fifteen years younger than my mother. So there was several years' gap.

RP: And is Aunt Mary the only one still alive? Is Aunt Mary still alive?

LY: Oh yes. Uh-huh, she's --

RP: Is she the only one of the seven kids?

LY: Well, she's alive and you know, (...) we do have uncle, only uncle we have. But he has Alzheimer's and the next to the youngest who is right above my Auntie Mary Shimazu, Josephine (Fukushima), but she also has Alzheimer and then we cannot communicate, unfortunately. And then we do, I do have one more. She's the third one from top. She, her name is Elsie, Yukie Elsie Matsumoto. She's I think, let's see, ninety-two? I think she's gonna go ninety-three. But she had an aneurism but when we go and see her at nursing home, she'll recognize us and she'll remember things. But, you know, as she age she's forgetting. But she has very good memory so we're very grateful.

RP: Let's talk a little bit about your father's family. And, maybe you can start in sharing with us that your dad's father was the first one to come over to the United States?

LY: Okay, so, talk about Tomojiro later? Grandfather?

RP: No. We can talk about him now.

LY: Okay. So it will be in the order?

RP: So we're kind of, tell us about his journey to America and what he did when he got here.

LY: Okay. And I discovered before he came to Honolulu, Hawaii, on 1903, August, and then he went over to Helper, Utah, on 1905. So I said, "Wow, two years' gap that which no one knew about that." Just recently I found on ancestors.com and so excited about that.

RP: Did Tomojiro also come from the Hiroshima area?

LY: No. He's from Yamaguchi-ken. Natajima, Yamaguchi-shi, and Yamaguchi-ken now.

RP: And why did he settle in Helper, Utah?

LY: Well, we don't know. 'Cause we never discussed with our parents. So, we do... it said why he went there. I guess he went to look for his friend. And it said O. Sekimori and we don't know anything about Mr. Sekimori. So I wonder whether he made a friend in Honolulu, Hawaii. Probably, I imagine. And anyway, I forgot to go back. Before he came to Honolulu, Hawaii, we found that he went to Korea. And this is before my father was born. And then 1898 or whatever it was, I have to see the note, his wife, who is Yasu Fukishima Asahara, is, applied for a, what is, permission to go to Korea. It's Pusan, they call Pusan, or Fusan, oh that's the Japanese, Pusan, Korea. It's South Korea. And then so she was trying to get permission to get on the ship. So I have that little records here.

RP: Your father ended up working... or your grandfather ended up working in Helper for the railroad.

LY: Right. And he went to Helper, Utah, very first time on August in 1905. And then he left the Yokohama, Japan, and then went to... oh, sorry, that one is I made a mistake. That was the second trip. The first one he went to Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1903. Then we found out that 1905 he went to, what do you call, Helper, Utah. So from Honolulu to Helper, Utah, I don't have a record yet. So I'm hoping to get it from San Francisco archives to get the passenger list and immigration. 'Cause they didn't have it at the L.A. Japanese American National Museum. They only had the second trip information.

RP: How long did he stay in Helper, Utah?

LY: He stayed in Helper, Utah, for fourteen years, 'til 1919. oh, that part is, because there is a record about nineteen... January, let's see, 1920. He started work in San Francisco Southern Pacific. So, I'm not too sure when he moved over. So I figure maybe December or, he moved to San Francisco or maybe early January. 'Cause the little notebook said he started to work on Southern Pacific from January 14, (1920). But he went back to Japan, January 1919. So nineteen... and then let's see, (August) he came back again to Helper, Utah, with my father and then that was the first trip for my father, which we didn't know anything about that 'til I start to, you know, search for information.

RP: Uh-huh. And your, what was your father's name?

LY: My father's name is Teruo Asahara. But he had a nickname in the camp. It's called John. So that record of Manzanar, you know, family record, it said John Teruo Asahara.