<Begin Segment 2>

AC: So let's just go back. So do remember anything of what your father or your father's family, what he did for a living while he was in Japan?

JT: Not at all. I think in Japan, whatever it was, the oldest brother got everything in the death of their father. And I think my father was the second in line, so I think he came to the U.S. to make his fortune.

AC: Do you know when he came to the United States?

JT: When?

AC: Yeah.

JT: Not the first time. The second time, when he brought back a bride, my mother, who was... they hit the port of Seattle in 1919.

AC: So they arrived in Seattle. What did he do when he arrived in Seattle?

JT: Seattle, they farmed potatoes outside of Seattle somewhere. And as I understand it, he hit it big. And against the advice of all of his friends, he sunk it back into potatoes, and then he lost it all. So he was a pauper again. [Laughs]

AC: Did he have any formal education or very high education?

JT: That I don't know. I do know that he was in the military, not for World War II, but just in the military. And in the house there, in our kitchen, no, dining area, there was this magnificent picture of him in his uniform on a white horse, hand on sword, and it was just a magnificent picture, and I wished I had it. But that was all destroyed because of the war, World War II.

AC: Do you remember the day that it was destroyed, what happened to it?

JT: No, I don't know when Mom did that, but it was a shame.

AC: So what was your mother's name?

JT: Kazuno Ishii. And I've lost everything about her, where she came from, but I believe it was in a neighboring (ken), what do you call it, on the island of Shikoku.

AC: Do you know what her family did?

JT: Not at all. That's what's sad, those people that knew Mom, they're gone, their children are gone. So have no knowledge, which makes me sad, you know.

AC: What about her level of education?

JT: No.

AC: So your father came as a, his family was farming?

JT: That I don't know, the family itself.

AC: But your mother came over with your father in 1919.

JT: 1919.

AC: And they lived in Seattle. Do you remember the address you were at in Seattle?

JT: Not at all. I wasn't in existence yet.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.