<Begin Segment 1>

MK: We are ready to start our interview.

RM: Yes.

MK: Can you hear me clearly?

RM: Not very clearly.

MK: Okay, then can I talk to you in a loud voice?

RM: Yes, please.

MK: Thank you very much for being here today.

RM: You are very welcome. My pleasure.

MK: I had a chance to spend some time talking to you the other day, and I learned a lot.

RM: That brought back a lot of memories for me. Thank you.

MK: That was great.

RM: Yes.

MK: Could you tell us your name again?

RM: Yes?

MK: Please tell us your name. Your name.

RM: Yes, my name.

MK: What is your name?

RM: My name is Rin Miura. Miura is my last name, and Rin is first. My maiden name is Sakashita.

MK: What is your birth date?

RM: I was born in 1901. October 4th in the 34th year of Meiji period.

MK: Where were you born?

RM: At home, I guess. Perhaps.

MK: In Nagano Prefecture, right?

RM: Yes, in Nagano Prefecture. It was called Fukuda in Izumida Village when I was there, but now it is Ueda City.

MK: How many siblings do you have?

RM: Four sisters.

MK: Do you remember their names?

RM: Yes, I remember their names. My elder sister is Yoshinu. My younger sister is Tsune, then me in the middle and Toyo. She is five years younger and still living. She sometimes writes to me. She said she has problems with her legs and needs someone to hold her to stand up, but she still writes to me.

MK: It's great that you are both doing well.

RM: Yes, I'm grateful. We are doing well. Doing very well.

MK: Please tell us your father and mother's name again.

RM: Yes. My father's name is Kamekichi, but he was sometimes called Kametaro. He preferred the modern name, I guess. My mother's name is Shin.

MK: I would like to ask you about your husband too. Where was he born?

RM: That area was called Muroga. His family had a small house there, and Muroga is now the name of the village. He came to my father, married into our family and became a Miura. Where was it... [looking for document] Here it is.

MK: Official registry.

RM: Yes. When my first son was born here, we were not allowed American citizenship, right? We were all planning to go back to Japan. That's why we needed a copy of our official registry. Here is the record.

MK: Thank you.

RM: You can take a look.

MK: Can I make a copy?

RM: Yes. Please feel free. We had it mailed from the village, from Ueda City.

MK: Can we hold on to it?

RM: Yes, go ahead. I have two copies. The same one. Yes. When we had the other children after that, we felt like we did not need any more copies. We thought we could just go back to Japan. That was something we were not able to do, though. We couldn't afford it and ended up living here permanently. We all got American citizenship after the war when we became eligible.

MK: Were you still planning to go back to Japan?

RM: Well, all our children love this county. We couldn't have found a job even if we had gone back. We ended up hanging around and staying here.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.