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RP: Jim, I'd like to explore your family background a little bit, starting with your father. Can you tell us his name and where he came from in Japan?

SS: My father's name is Keiichiro Sugiyama, and he came when he was, I think he was fourteen, 1912, he came with my grandmother, Tane, to Alameda and that was in 1912. My grandfather Matsutaro, had preceded him which was at that time a common occurrence, that the father would come and most of them I think intended to return to Japan after they'd accumulated a little bit of capital, but for some reason my grandfather decided to stay and so my grandmother and father came in 1912. And they're living in Alameda at that time and so technically I'm third generation but my father and grandfather were the first immigrants.

RP: What did your father settle into as far as an occupation?

SS: Well, he was fourteen when he came so I'm not sure what he... he attended grade school in Alameda, matter of fact, he and I had the same teacher years apart for one of my classes. But eventually, after he had married, he married in 1924 to my mother, and my mother is also from Fukuoka, Fukuoka prefecture, and they lived for a short while in San Francisco. And I'm not sure exactly what he was doing but then he returned to Alameda with my mother. And he became a gardener just like my... my grandfather who was also a gardener, landscape gardener. And my mother, I'm not sure of her official birthdate but I think she was only about fifteen or sixteen when she was married, sixteen in Japanese age. But anyway, I was born 1927, my mother came in 1924. That was before the cutoff of the stoppage of all immigration from Japan. My father was a gardener and my mother did odd jobs as a day worker, housekeeper and stuff like that.

RP: Was your mother a... was it a picture marriage?

SS: Pardon?

RP: Was it a picture marriage?

SS: No, my father went back, and she's not from the same village but it was I think about four kilometers away, it's in the same county or gun, and her maiden name was also Sugiyama so it causes some confusion. Both sides of the family is Sugiyama. So I was the first born.

RP: Is that the extent of your father's family, just his parents?

SS: Well, my father, let's see, I'm just trying to think how many siblings, there was one, two... my father had a brother that was born in Japan, a younger brother, and then after my grandmother came in 1912 there were three sons and... so I have three uncles that were born here and one aunt, and they're all gone now. The last one was Uncle Hiroshi. He was the scholar of the family and graduated from UC Berkeley, Phi Beta Kappa, in his sophomore year. He was drafted in 1940 and after the war he attended the University of Chicago and obtained his PhD in bacteriology and became a professor at Chicago and then at the University of Wisconsin. He retired as a full professor, bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin, so he's the scholar on our family. [Laughs]

RP: Did you parents or your grandparents ever talk about coming to America and what it was like?

SS: No, no, I never had... my grandfather died in 1938, and then my father was... well, actually all on my father's side were non-talkers. [Laughs] So I never did get much chance to talk to my father. And after I left camp, never had, until I returned from the army in '66. And before I had a chance to maybe sit down and talk with him, he passed away about six months after I returned. And I never got the chance really to talk to my mother either. I really don't know a lot, I think some of my brothers and sisters have done a little bit more research (...).

RP: Tell us about your brothers and your sisters, maybe you could list them according to their --

SS: Well, I had a total of seven siblings. I was born and then I had three brothers following (me), and the third one died in infancy. So there were three surviving boys and then I (had) three sisters, and then I had another brother that was born in camp in, at Topaz, 1944. So all told, there are eight with seven surviving. And presently, let's see, I have two brothers and two sisters, one brother and one sister have passed away in the last three years. And being the eldest, I guess I'm the head of the family now. [Laughs]

RP: Did your parents ever make any trips back to Japan?

SS: My father did not, well, except my father... I think the only time he returned to Japan was when he went to marry my mother. And my mother did not, didn't return to Japan until after the war and I'm just trying to think when it was, probably in the 1950s, '60s, when after the war when there's lot of revisiting Japan. I think she went back one time and that was it.

RP: Were any of the children sent back to Japan for education?

SS: I almost went but I think it was around in 1934, '35, and my two brothers and I were supposed to go back but as I understand it, my grandfather put a stop to it. I recall that they'd taken passport pictures and all ready to go but fortunately I didn't go.

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