<Begin Segment 9>

MK: After you graduated from upper elementary school and finished some additional courses, someone arranged marriage for you when you were twenty.

RM: Yes. [Laughs] That's what happened.

MK: Were you happy to find out the arrangement first?

RM: Not really. We were expected to get married at a certain age back then. This girl and that girl got married. That's how it worked in those days.

MK: Did you see a picture of your husband first?

RM: No, I met with him. Our matchmakers brought him over.

MK: What was your first impression?

RM: Well, it wasn't too bad.

MK: How many years older is your husband?

RM: Yes?

MK: How many years older is he?

RM: I was twenty. I was twenty-one, not twenty.

MK: Was your husband over forty?

RM: No. He was around thirty-six.

MK: Did you think he was a bit too old?

RM: No. My friend told me that he was too old for me, but I didn't feel that way.

MK: You father and mother told you that he was the perfect person for you.

RM: I don't really know. I guess. They had a lot of daughters and didn't want me staying single and hanging around. I was sort of kicked out. [Laughs]

MK: Did you want to marry someone who lived in Japan then?

RM: No. I wasn't thinking of getting married at all.

MK: You were to go to the States if you married this person. Were you okay with it?

RM: Yes. I didn't have a choice. [Laughs] Many people went overseas in those days. Some families went to the Philippines. Many people went out. Some families went to the South America. People were not afraid of going to another place back in those days.

MK: You knew nothing about the States.

RM: No, no. Nothing. I didn't know anything about the country. No.

MK: I would like to ask about your husband.

RM: Yes, yes. Yes, yes.

MK: He came over to the States when he was young?

RM: Yes, yes. He did, he did. He was around twenty, I think. Around twenty. Men would be drafted if they were around and available. All the men had to become soldiers in Japan.

MK: He came to the States instead of becoming a soldier then.

RM: He had a good friend to come with. I heard that's why he came over.

MK: Did he come to Oregon?

RM: No. Everyone had a visa to come to the States but disembarked in Vancouver as it was supposed to be an easier port to go through. People worked there too. My husband spent about four years there in Vancouver. He came to this country after that and worked at a sawmill or for the railroad. That's where people from Japan were all working.

MK: What did he do in Vancouver?

RM: He had some job at the beginning. I was told he had some trading business. His friend wanted to come to the States, and that's why he came over, too. He wanted to come over because his friends and everybody were already here. I heard that's why he came to this country.

MK: He went back to Japan to look for a bride when he had enough money saved.

RM: That's right. It took him a long time to save up money. [Laughs] Yes, that's how it happened.

MK: Did you come with his parents?

RM: No, no. I came over with a friend of mine.

MK: Nakau...

RM: Yes.

MK: Did you meet your husband's parents?

RM: Yes, yes. I did. I met my husband's parents. The father was adopted because the family didn't have children, and I didn't see anyone from that side of the family. I didn't.

MK: Does your husband have any siblings?

RM: He doesn't have any siblings. No.

MK: Because he is adopted.

RM: Yes, yes.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2003 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.