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RP: And tell us about your mom, Kinu. What was her situation like in Japan?

OM: Well she was a... she came from a very kind of a poor family. She was the eldest of three. Two siblings, two brothers below her, she was the eldest and at nine she went to what they call houkou in those days. It's to live in kind of a maid. But she went to a... in those days silk production was a big thing, and where she went she became not only kind of a live in maid but she also worked in the factory. She stayed there 'til she was in her thirties, early thirties, and by that time she had moved up to a pretty responsible position. And I guess that's about the time when, I don't know if it was a photo marriage or what, but he did, he went back to Japan evidently to marry her. And that was around 1920, I think, because around '22 is when they came back. He came back and then called her over. You know, I think he met her the first time she went to receive some sort of award being a boss or supervisor or something. And that's when he saw her the first time. But, you know, around 1920 is when they got married and '22 is when they came to this country, she came.

RP: And they settled right away into --

OM: Excuse me?

RP: They settled in the San Pedro area initially?

OM: No, initially at that time they were in a place called El Monte, I think, which is in the San Gabriel valley. They were... I'm not sure what kind of farming they were doing, but they were doing some sort of farming. And from there, oh, Baldwin Park, that's the place, Baldwin Park. And from there they moved to San Pedro so actually Wilmington. I'm not sure, there's a Union 76 refinery up in Wilmington and just south of that is where we were farming, poultry farming. And there was just a couple, three or four families, Japanese families that lived on that hill. One was a flower farmer, another one was poultry, but we were also farming and poultry. It was tough times. [Laughs]

RP: That was late '20s and then into the Depression era.

OM: Yeah, but you know, I don't ever recall starving or, you know, for lack of food. If you liked chicken, you're well off.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.