[NOTE: This transcript has not undergone a final proofreading and may contain
errors. It is being provided in draft form to enhance access to the video recording. As soon as possible, it will be replaced with a final, corrected transcript and will be synced to the video to provide clickable timecodes.]Mitsuo Goi: 00:00 Oh, after parents came back to Japan, they had two kids one,
I'm that one and the others living in Japan, Kibei, Kibei.Kikuno Goi: 00:13 He has seven brothers and sisters.
MG: 00:15 Yeah.
KG: 00:15 Three brothers came back-
MG: 00:18 So this whole, my life story.
KG: 00:20 -and the girls uh stay in Japan.
MG: 00:24 So this, this country, oh boy, I have a camp in the way people that
before me was, as I had to work, I was outside, I was working and go to school. Not that, you know, was, it very hard. Guardian was uncle. [inaudible]Anna Takada: 00:50 And so were your parents in
MG: 00:52 Huh?
AT: 00:52 -your parents were in Japan, during the war?
MG: 00:56 Huh?
KG: 00:56 Yeah, your parents.
MG: 00:58 Yeah, after. You got seven kids, right? And a two, five were born in
this country. So they, they've been working on the farm, well, they have five kids. You can't house these kids in this country. So they sent all to grammar school and Japan, to grandparents. Grandparents, the grandmother was, a get heart attack or something. So she, they come back after five years, came back to Japan and then they would come back to Japan no more. They lived their lives in Japan.AT: 01:41 And, and where did you move to in the United States when you came back?
MG: 01:45 Huh?
AT: 01:45 Where did you, where did you move in the United States?
MG: 01:49 United States, Sacramento
AT: 01:53 Sacramento?
KG: 01:53 He was born in Sacramento.
MG: 01:53 Born in Sacramento so come back to Sacramento. I was guardian by my
uncle. My uncle, he was in the, asked, looked for something for me to do. Okay, well I see. This is in the morning, it was seven to eight, nine o'clock, I go to school. After school went through, was it through afternoon, then by nine o'clock, by nighttime I wash the dishes, to keep my income coming.AT: 02:25 Do you remember-
MG: 02:26 Huh?
AT: 02:26 -when, do you remember when Pearl Harbor was attacked?
MG: 02:32 Huh?
KG: 02:32 Oh yeah.
AT: 02:32 Can you, can you tell me about that?
KG: 02:36 No Pearl Harbor. [speaks in Japanese]
MG: 02:37 Yeah, yeah. Pearl Harbor, because, because we lived in Japan. They no
talking about Japan fight, you know. Japan was 2500 years. It was in 1940, I came here 1940, I was 14 years old. My mom was, 15 coming in. I believe it was May 7th. So, so about, a month before my birthday, I came to here. Take the boat to from Japan to San Francisco.KG: 03:27 It was the last ship, you know, there weren't any openings. You come
back when the ship.MG: 03:28 Almost one month from Japan to here in the boat. That's all my jumbo
mumbo, I'm sorry, mixed up. But still likely, this much English I could talk. Because three years in the camp, you know. I didn't have to work, I got to go school or high school janitor does. Class over, you know, clean up the room and anytime broken or something pull up the chair, open the door.Michael Goi: 04:05 So mom tell, tell her, what what happened. What did you think
when, when Pearl Harbor was attacked in the morning when you were there.KG: 04:12 You know, I went back to Japan, my moth, oh my father killed. He was
hit by a, he was riding the bicycle in the farming country, you know-AT: 04:24 In where?
KG: 04:25 -in a California, just tried to find the land. There was no land, but
uh, around um, Marysville. Somewhere around there, small, uh, farming down there, they settled over there. And then, uh, I have, uh, two other brothers, you know, and I was on last, one of them was born in 1928, and then when my father got killed, so my mother can't afford to raise three kids, you know. So my uncle, my mother's younger brother came with them, three of them came to, and he said, well, he worked on a farm, so he says, uh, let's take the kids and go back to Japan because I, you know, my mother was kind of sickly and all the worry, so we went back. She didn't, she didn't even have the money to go back because, uh, that he, this guy hit my father. He said uh he wanted to settle out of court. You know, then he'll give some money. But then, uh, you know, everybody said that, oh, he should put them in and take them to the court, you know to sue him. So she did and they lost, they lost the case. So she little money she had saved, uh, she had to pay that lawyer, so she didn't have any money left. So my uncle paid all the fares, taking back to Japan. He said he would help, you know. And then, uh, we went back to Hiroshima, in the farming town, you know. And, uh, they had an empty house, and my uncle cleaned the house and fixed it. So my mother and the three kids lived there. Only half a block from my house, you know, so she was kind of sickly and overwork and went back to Japan and he was, she helped with the farm and everything, you know. And she died. She died. I was four years old, you know,AT: 06:26 And, and you were in Japan?
KG: 06:27 Yeah.
AT: 06:28 In Hiroshima you said?
KG: 06:28 Yeah. So my uncle took us in his house. That's where we grew up. And I
was, I was, you know, only, only four years old. And um, I was afraid. My mother was alive, we used to use a fork and spoon. Well, when I moved uncle's place, grandpa is like a samurai, you know. He, he watched some somebody, and I can't hold up chop stick good. He used to hit them, you know, and knock them down because I, I always cry, cry, so scared, you know, and I'm so my auntie, you know, uh, always cares. So he get after my auntie, you know. You spoil her that's why she cry. And so I when, when he died. I was so so happy. He was like a samurai, you know, he hate outside. So I grew up with my uncle and auntie. I just, I call them my mother and my father, you know. And then, uh, 19, 19, um let's see, I came in 1941, in January.AT: 07:43 To the U.S.?
KG: 07:44 Yeah, because my uncle knows that there's going to be a war. 19, so he
called my older brother, he was in city, you know, he was, fif, he was 15. Wen, went back to Japan. So my uncle took him to city, put him in high school and all that, you know, because there's no high school in a farming town, you know, he had to go there. So he calls my brother and said, uh, explain to him, you know, he had a dual citizenship because he was the oldest. So we explained that, uh, you have citizenship, you know, too. So he said, you could stay, but your brother and your sister they, only have American citizen, you can't stay here, it's bad, you know. It was kind of fussy because government was always checking because we only had the, American citizen, you know. Finally he called my brother and said that, you go back to America first and then call your brother and sister to come back to America. That's what we did. Like that uh, my brother came back in 1934 or something, you know, he had a hard life. He didn't know anybody. He had no job. And he wandered around and met a bunch of same kind of guys, you know. So he joined a church because he loved to sing. And um, finally, 1941, January we came in that to, to takes uh, two weeks to get, you know, uh, ship, no airplane and ship and came, landed in January, um, 20 or something, you know.AT: 09:33 So that, that was after Pearl Harbor?
KG: 09:35 No before
AT: 09:37 In January?
MG2: 09:40 Pearl Harbor was in December.
KG: 09:41 Yeah, December.
MG2: 09:42 Of the same year.
KG: 09:44 Yeah, I came in January 19, yeah,
AT: 09:47 Wait, January, I'm sorry. January you came January, 1941?
KG: 09:50 Yeah.
AT: 09:50 Okay. So that was before Pearl Harbor.
KG: 09:53 And then a few months later, you know, we have to go into the camp.
There was a, uh, 1942 in May. We went in the camp. My god, you know, I didn't know where to go. No host.AT: 10:10 So what, what do you remember about, um, Pearl Harbor and that time?
KG: 10:16 No, that time we were in camp. I said, yeah, well, no.
MG2: 10:21 You weren't in camp, until after Pearl Harbor.
KG: 10:21 No, no. I didn't know what's going on because, uh, I was, uh, you
know, my brother three years older than I. My older brother was in, you know, his, he didn't have to go in the camp because he was in like New York or something, you know. So uh, I'm under age, so, so social worker moved us all over the place, you know, I was wandering you know, and you know, no worries so. So she, moved me to, my brother and I moved to a, uh, Methodist, uh, minister his wife different of the camp. It was to still Tule Lake, but different part it was. And then I stayed, I was so mad. I said, boy, you know, if I ever saw, I'm going to kill somebody. Hate, I had so much hate, you know, so they moved me to where they, I didn't even talk. And one day this, a minister's wife was doing a, uh, threading, you know, oh, I want to do that, you know, I said that. So right away she got the thing material. She teaching me how to do that, you know, oh, I was so happy. I started talking again. And you know, singing again up before I was so mad at everybody since I moved here, move there, you know, and I went and they had a place, a a in the camp, who showed you how to do it. So I went there, they said uh, no, I was 12 years old. You have to be 16. Okay. So I went to flowers and things, you know, and then they thing they say, well, same thing, you know. So I was moving around, walking around, look like zombie, you know, hate, hate, hate. Then I went to living with the minister's wife. She teach me all this needle point.AT: 12:15 And, and which city was this in?
KG: 12:19 This was in California. Yeah.
AT: 12:21 In which city? Where? Where in California.
KG: 12:24 California, Tule Lake, that's the largest camp.
MG: 12:24 Same camp I'm in.
KG: 12:24 He came later, but I was there first.
MG2: 12:24 Well
AT: 12:24 Go ahead
MG2: 12:38 Well, back up a little bit. So you're in, you're in California?
You're in Sacramento?KG: 12:43 No
MG2: 12:43 No, before, before Tule Lake?
KG: 12:46 Well, I was in us
MG2: 12:48 Where, where were you when you heard about what happened at Pearl Harbor?
KG: 12:52 Oh, I guess I was in camp already.
MG2: 12:55 You were in the camp when Pearl Harbor happened?
KG: 12:58 See, I came 1941 and I was living in Oakland.
MG: 13:04 Even before I did.
KG: 13:04 Oakland, I was in Oakland. And then the following year, 1942, we had
to go into the camp.MG: 13:12 So that's the time.
KG: 13:13 Must have start
MG2: 13:14 Yeah. But to December 7th, 1941 was when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
KG: 13:20 Yeah but I didn't know, I didn't know.
MG2: 13:20 Where, where were you? You weren't in the camp yet?
KG: 13:22 No. No, because, uh, no, I wasn't in camp, but, uh, I didn't know
what's going on, you know. And so, uh, following year, 1942, May, we all have to go to camp.MG2: 13:39 Yeah. But what happened? What happened there? I mean, uh, did they
come and knock on your door and tell you, you have to leave?KG: 13:44 Oh, everybody knows they gotta move.
MG2: 13:47 How? How? Well, what happened there?
KG: 13:51 Well, we had to move out of the Oakland and then moved to Marysville.
From there we went into the camp.MG2: 14:00 Who was with you?
KG: 14:02 Oh, the Japanese family I was staying with, you know, and George, my
brother and I, we moved to. So I didn't even know there was a, you know, bomb or anything. Yeah, I know my son.AT: 14:19 So that, that second place you named, was that an assembly center? Did
you, did you go to an assembly center?KG: 14:27 Was, yeah, in February, May that's the assembly center. Yeah. Camp.
That's the largest camp. Yeah, Tule Lake, the called it Tule Lake used to be a lake I think.MG: 14:46 You know what, they segregate some loyal to this country, some loyal
to Japan. Some went to Japan some sent back to Japan. Some loyal and stayed.KG: 15:03 Yeah, that's how it was, you know, Tule Lake is by the thing. So
anybody who aren't loyal to America, they gotta go back. So I know some people went back, they said, uh, I said, oh, I wanted to go back to Japan cause you know, I just came here a few months ago. But they said no. The social workers said no, because my brother up there and only, I have my, you know, American citizen, so uh.AT: 15:30 So how, how did they know about loyalty?
KG: 15:37 Oh, they had a big things. Yeah.
AT: 15:41 So what, what things, how did?
KG: 15:44 Oh, they had a like you know, like, uh, office, you, uh, uh, your, you
want to, you know, you want to choose America or either Japan. That's when they segregated and they Japan, they just shipped them back. And uh, Ameri, you know, even though this, uh, young men's born in, um, born in America and was citizen, because they were Japanese American, they don't trust them. Yeah. That's why they have to, I know I got the movie, you know, you, when, they had to go through all this so many times, young men, throw the American citizenship. Said I'm going to, you know, even though they are American citizen, they didn't trust the Nisei, so they have to, you know, pledge that I'm going to, yeah. That's the way it was.MG2: 16:45 Move your hat. We can't see your eyes.
KG: 16:45 Oh, sorry. Yeah.
MG: 16:45 She and I met, 61 years we've been married.
AT: 16:58 Wow, congratulations.
MG: 16:58 Can you imagine that?
KG: 17:01 Can you imagine that? Yeah.
MG: 17:05 After, I met her after I came back from service. My roommate was her
brother was, you know, in the same building, you know apartment.KG: 17:25 Gave me a hard time.
MG: 17:25 Only three years a difference. What was it? 80?
KG: 17:31 I'm 88.
MG: 17:32 I'm an 92. This is my son. My daughter's over there too. This uh, I
got two. Mitsuo doing okay. I got two kids.KG: 17:45 Yeah. You know
MG: 17:46 They speak perfect English like my English is all jumbo mumbo. Good
thing I had three years in the camp. Otherwise I would be completely washing dishes.MG2: 18:02 But we don't speak Japanese. We know, benjo wa dokodesu, where's the toilet?
KG: 18:05 Yeah.
MG2: 18:05 That's the only thing I know in Japanese. Take move, move your hat so
I can see your face.MG: 18:11 Luckily though.
KG: 18:11 You know, it's uh.
MG: 18:12 I'm amazed myself. I'm able to live this long. my family no one live
over 90. Youngest live to 86 or something around there, you know. And we have to, 92. We now in Japan, 12 years total, at 12 years. But when I was in grammar school. When I was younger, I was sick, sick every year, Japan, you know. But after I get, get, 12 years old. I don't get sick no more, after that, after now. Japan, Japan 12 years.MG2: 19:00 Lean, lean this way. Lean closer to dad.
KG: 19:03 Yeah.
MG2: 19:03 Lean that way.
KG: 19:05 You know, uh, Michael was telling me how the Japanese soldiers, Nisei,
Nisei: Go For Broke and uh, that's really tell you what's, really happened. You know, don't sign up.MG: 19:22 She, she's about 17 parents, no, you know. Her parents died young. My
father's, lived to 65. My mother was 86. Died in Japan.KG: 19:42 So
MG: 19:42 Yeah, it's a long life you know.
AT: 19:45 And so you left Tule Lake for Amache?
MG: 19:49 Huh?
AT: 19:50 You left Tule Lake and went to Amache?
KG: 19:53 No, Amache to Tule Lake.
MG: 19:56 Amache
KG: 19:56 He was in Amache.
MG: 19:57 Amache is, Amache is in Colorado. When they segregate, loyal and
disloyal. Loyal and disloyal. Loyal to this country. Most dis, loyal to Japan, sent back to Japan.KG: 20:14 I don't know how many people went back to Japan, but I know, I know a
couple of girls, she said they were going back. I said, oh, I want to go back, because I just came a few months ago. But I was very unhappy. I didn't know anybody. So what they ask is, you know, social worker. So at that time, they, uh, they moved me to the, this minister's place, and I stayed at there, they're separate, you know, there was this one, you know. So I was moved to Idaho.AT: 20:47 Minidoka.
KG: 20:47 Idaho, Minidoka, yeah. And then my, uh, Episcopal priest became my
guardian again. So, you know, I was still on edge. Oh you know, you need a tonsil. I had a real bad tonsil, tonsil, you know. So I said okay. So I had a tonsil surgery there. So, you know, I had so many [inaudible] and everything.MG2: 21:13 Mom, so when you were in Japan, you were in Hiroshima?
KG: 21:16 Yeah.
MG2: 21:17 So when, when you came to the United States, did the people you were
with in Hiroshima, did they die in the bomb?KG: 21:24 Yeah, I think so. Some of them, because we lived in the country, you
know. So that time, okay. But, uh, there was two girls no of them had a good heart you know. Someone in the village, parents died you know. And the brother had to war, uh Chinese and Japanese War. So two girls left at 13, 15 nobody wants to take care of them because of poor farmers, you know. So they always they take them in and then older, oldest one was 15 that, uh, when she became 18, she's going to, she wanted to go to the city to look for job. And there was when moved out of this place, but the younger one was 15 so she, when she began 18 she, she says she's gonna work with her, you know, sisters. But I think they died because of the bomb, you know. And uh, so you know, I mean move. They say, when do you want? I said, how many hours you have? I lose so much. You know, I was so much in the, I don't know, you know, sometime I dream as, I can't, I don't know which one is my house, you know, I lost. So I told my daughter Frances, that's not home for me anymore. I lose so much, ever since then, you know.AT: 22:53 So where did you go after, after camp?
KG: 22:57 After camp? I had another one. At the camp, I wanted to, uh, I wanted
to come to Chicago. I had a friend, I met that friend in a camp, you know, so, but then now, uh, I think, I didn't know any English. So I went to school, but I didn't learn any English. So, uh, my brother came from New York, talked to priest. What should you do? Take her straight to New York or send her to someplace, with an American family so I could study English. So they decide to send me to, you know, stay with an American family. So my brother went to, but he was three years older, but he didn't stay too long. He went to New York. I stayed there a year and a half. And then I learned English a little bit. And there I said I want to go to New York, you know. So I got the job as a caregiver. She was a real, real nice lady. You know, she's a widow and. But that didn't like the men that take care of the house. Japanese men, you know. And uh, they had a couple of Japanese girls who before me, one girl was after the war girl, you know, sweet talking. I don't like the sweet talking people, you know. So she had a fine mink coat, you know, this lady, rich family. Husband died of cancer and she uh, and these Japanese men worked for her, 35 years. She's another one, you know, you kinda says things like, you know, I'm looking for, uh, tried to look for, uh, say something, chat together, give me that, you know, mink coat. You know, I got so mad because I'm not that kind of person, you know. And then I, I work and, but I think I worked about a year, year and a half, I said, oh, I'm gonna, I want to go, go to school. She cried, you know, I feel so bad. She was so nice. And theAT: 25:01 Where, where did they live?
KG: 25:03 Ah, New York, Forest Hill. They had a home over there. And, uh, after
I had left, she passed away, you know. She had a, um, she was sick, but uh, you know, um, nice down to earth kind people, kind of. I go in to buy a newspaper, you know, everything and uh, I see, uh, some, uh, artificial, not, not artificial, weeds or flowers. You know I picked it up and I said, look what I find over there. So she's, she had a beautiful garden in the backyard, you know, but she doesn't go out. She doesn't see any flowers, you know. So I bring home little weeds and flowers. She said, it is so nice Kiku. You know, she, I get along real good. But then I, when I left she cried, you know, I felt so bad.AT: 25:57 So where did you, you said you left for school?
KG: 26:00 Yeah, I went, I went to look for school and I lived there, and they
sent me to someplace else. Why? Went through the door. Oh, that's not a school. That's a [inaudible] hanging all over the place. I said, no, that's not the school. So come [inaudible], the girl said, no, no, come in, come in. Yeah, but I was looking for school, not the [inaudible], you know, I wasn't. So she said, no, no, come in, come in. And uh, so she said, I show you. I was so afraid. What is this? I never had any experience doing that, or all that stuff. And I think I make a mess too, so. I worked a few months, a few months and I said no, I couldn't do it. Yeah, so I said to my [inaudible], I want to go to Chicago and I want to go to school, you know. I had a, I knew um a couple friends from ah camp. I said, I want to go beauty school over there. Oh everybody, a first, first, can't do this, can't do that. All these people can do this. Then I got so mad, you know, I mean, I'm 19 years old and still they tell me, oh, you're going with the wrong people. Yeah. The girl is no good because their parents are divorced. I said my god, I got so mad that I hit the woman who told me. She got mad. She got mad. She said [inaudible] you should be going around with the college student. I said, I don't want college student, you know. So anyway, I got mad and she was hitting at me, I was hitting at her. So I came back and said my, my girlfriend, I stepped in and she said oh how did it go? I tell her, I said uh, oh, she was mad and I was mad, hitting the table. Well, I hit too. And I told her that her parents had divorce, meaning maybe scandal, you know, before the war. And what's the difference I told. That's a parents and she got nothing else to do you know. So I was screaming at her, she was scream at me. That's why I got so mad. So I told that to my new roommate, you sure you want to live here? I said, yeah, I want leave here. I said, okay. But trust me, trust me, I said, you study hard, you graduate, you know, I said, okay. It was tough for her too, you know, because Monday, Wednesday, Friday, night school I had to go. And then, uh, it, during the day, I had a job, 95 cents an hour, my first job, so 5:00 o'clock I go downtown. 5:30 my class starts. I don't get out til 9:30, you know. And then, uh, I'd take a, you know, bus home. Then I told my roommate, her, I said don't bother cooking for me because you know I'm going to come home late. I pick up something. No, she always had a dinner cooked over there on the table for me. I just pick up and closed the door and you know, I needto study, you know.AT: 29:08 What, what did you think of Chicago when you moved here?
KG: 29:13 Oh, I like it! Yeah!
AT: 29:16 What, what did you like about Chicago?
KG: 29:18 Well, everything was so cheap. Um only thing, I had to live with my
sister in-law's family because they, they are against for me to stay with my roommate, you know, so I had to stay with them for six, seven months, you know?AT: 29:34 And, and where did each of you live when you first moved here?
KG: 29:37 Oh, uh, my brother, uh, my brother, three years older than I am, she,
he decided to move to Chicago. He came to see me. He said, yeah, move, move. You know, he came to move and he got the uh, apartment close by, and then he and a few others became a friend, you know.AT: 30:00 Were you on the South Side?
KG: 30:01 No, North Side.
AT: 30:02 North Side.
New Speaker: 30:03 Yeah. Like Clark and Division, around there. Yeah.
AT: 30:08 Do you, do you remember, um, or did you use any of the like local
Japanese American, um, like the Resettlers Committee orKG: 30:21 No,
AT: 30:21 Viking Hall.
KG: 30:21 I never, I never. It was so busy, you know.
AT: 30:26 Working a lot.
KG: 30:26 Yeah, working. And then like a Sunday, you know, it's my, uh,
sister-in-law parents, most parents who are real good to me, you know, and living with their never charged me point anything. So Sunday sat there all day, I got to go to school, you know, so Sunday I used to go Japanese, uh, grocery, I buy the sashimi, all this stuff. Taking it to the, you know, my, uh, she was so good to me.AT: 30:54 And so where, where did you two meet, in Chicago? It was in Chicago,
that you met?KG: 30:58 Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, my brother and him and a few others, you
know, get together. They used to play ah Japanese hanafuda. That's when I met him.MG2: 31:13 So dad, what'd you think when you met mom?
KG: 31:18 Huh? You remember when you meet me?
MG: 31:22 Hm?
KG: 31:22 You, you remember how you meet me?
MG: 31:27 Yeah, through your brother.
KG: 31:30 Yeah, through my brother, Uncle Jimmy.
MG: 31:33 I know his brother. Same apartment.
KG: 31:37 Yeah.
MG: 31:37 Cause we lived together. So you got a sister. So yeah, she's getting old.
AT: 31:45 What, was it love at first sight?
MG: 31:48 Huh?
AT: 31:48 Was it love at first sight?
KG: 31:50 Love at first time?
MG: 31:52 Oh yeah. I said I love you! No, Chicago I work, first in Summer House.
Do you remember Summer House? You're young, too young to remember Summer House.MG2: 32:07 That was like 30 years before she was born, Dad
KG: 32:10 Yeah. Yeah.
MG: 32:12 Edgewater Beach, Edgewater Beach House, never heard of?
KG: 32:14 That's the restaurant he used to work at.
AT: 32:17 Edgewater Beach Hotel.
MG: 32:18 Edgewater Beach, you remember? And now, Bank of America is over there.
KG: 32:24 Those are way before
MG: 32:26 Bank of America is over now. Used to be, a Northern Trust Bank. I was
a dining room cook. So I did a good job being a cook lead.MG2: 32:38 You worked at Morton.
MG: 32:42 So many cooks.
MG2: 32:42 Morton on LaSalle. Morton Steakhouse.
KG: 32:46 Morton Steakhouse you worked at.
MG: 32:48 Steakhouse?
KG: 32:49 Yeah.
MG: 32:49 That's on the.
MG2: 32:52 Wells or something?
KG: 32:54 Yeah. Uh, yeah,
MG: 32:57 Steakhouse also
MG2: 32:57 So that's where I brought my first date.
KG: 33:01 Oh yeah?
MG: 33:01 Also Fish House, Fisher House
MG2: 33:03 Yeah. Red something. I've forgotten.
MG: 33:08 Yeah. Favorite place, I came out as a pretty good cook you know. Now,
I can't do nothing. This morning, I was making some kind of stuff. I don't know what the ingredients are, I forgot. Oh my goodness. There's just so many people but everybody is reallyMG2: 33:26 But after you retired from working, you, you just started painting.
You never painted before and you're really good painters. So where did that come from?KG: 33:36 Know
MG2: 33:37 The painting?
MG: 33:39 Huh?
MG2: 33:39 You started painting.
MG: 33:40 Oh, yeah yeah. Well, I've got paint [inaudible]. Now I see, Oh boy how
could I have painted that? It looks so nice.KG: 33:49 He has so much time, you know, cause he, he was sleeping all the time
and he said, you're going to sleep all day. He comes home and I said, so I said that, um, after he, you know, I said, well, don't you want to do anything? What should I do? I said, do whatever you want. You wanna just, he started going out of school, you know, senior citizens. And then, uh, he went,MG: 34:16 Now, now, I can't do nothing. Where you take when you on the porch.
That's the enjoyment.KG: 34:22 Okay.
MG: 34:22 And every time I go out the sun gets away, sun disappears, I have to
come in the house.KG: 34:29 Well, you know
MG2: 34:29 You have two children, you have a daughter who's a nurse. A son who
makes movies.MG: 34:36 He does a pretty good job.
KG: 34:37 Yeah.
MG: 34:38 He was on
KG: 34:39 You know, we were very poor. Yeah poor.
MG: 34:42 He's a movie, movie maker
KG: 34:43 Because when he came out. Before he went into a service, he was
sending money to, um, you know, in Japan. Well, he went in army. He, uh, the company, I mean that straight to Japan. So he came out, he had nothing. Yeah. Nothing. We were very poor.MG: 35:05 How old are you now?
MG2: 35:08 Me? 58.
MG: 35:10 58. Oh, 58. Oh
KG: 35:14 So you know
MG: 35:16 He was born in 1961.
KG: 35:17 Uh, so, uh, you know, my kids and they had a hard time.
MG: 35:23 61 pretty soon.
KG: 35:25 Because both kids who I went to go to college in the same time, I
said, my daughter says, uh I want to go uh Loyola. I said okay. And then I don't know where the money come. I don't have any money. So she, she checked in my student loan, she got that and then she, uh, she bought the books. All used books. She never bought the new book, bookstore. And then, she took her own sandwich. And then one day, first day she went to, they charge her $1 for the drink. She said I'm going to take my own water. For four years never spending.AT: 36:09 Where, where did you raise your family?
KG: 36:13 Chicago. Yeah. Oh, we moved a lot. Well, you know, his friend had a, I
lived on the LaSalle street you know with my roommate. And then we moved to his, his, I didn't know if it was his friend apartment. It was nice the third floor and all that. I didn't like the, you know, uh, lady, woman, you know, she, she, she was so jealous. I can't make a friends, in the same building, you know, she said, oh, she said this, I said that. Yeah, you know, made me so. And then my daughter was in kindergarten, and she had to walk so far in the wintertime, you know, close to Lincoln Avenue, all the way. So as soon as she, uh, finished, I said, I'm moving. She said, I'm not going to move, here's my friend. I said you stay, I'm moving. Yeah, because you know, you had to. Uh, and then um, uh, where I moved oh, oh cause it was a small apartment, five, a room, just very, you know. And a kinda dark both side, because the building there. So pros together, but this Japanese man had it and you know, he said, I have nobody I lived there, uh, five months, or six months. Say I don't care. And the school was a right cross street that, you know, she doesn't, they don't have to go too far away. And oh, kids are so happy, you know, and they could have anybody come over when I come home back home, what the kids did, they. I only had one room, room, the sofa, they sat on the floor. But they don't care, they sat on the floor you know? So that's how I did. He said, said, I'm not gonna move, this is my friend. I said, you stay, I'm moving. Yeah cause you know, because you got to think that's his friend, he's not home all the time. And you know, but I have to stay and then she complains uh, my daughter was small, but then she's spilled the water on the floor or something and a third, third floor not much heat coming up, you know because there's a opening there. If somebody downstairs stay open for me, the heat will come up. But some people, they don't want to bother, they'd rather, in the winter, if it's too hot, they open the window. And always so cool. I had a stove. [inaudible] winter time, all that time to heat up, you know, it's a seven room apartment. So you know, I mean I, I don't care if it's a small, the kids are happy, that's more important to me, then you know. So we had a bunch of kids come over, huh? So it's five room, yeah, yeah, but you know [inaudible] okay. Huh? YeahMG2: 39:13 Yeah.
KG: 39:13 Yeah because I know that we couldn't buy them a lot of good things,
you know, cause we didn't have too much money. But he gets a good money, good credit, I give him a dollar and then, he buys a record or something, you know, he writes music, you know, and uhMG2: 39:29 Well you asked me, you asked me when I was eight years old what I
wanted to be when I grew up.KG: 39:35 Yeah.
MG2: 39:35 I already loved movies and I said, I want to go to Hollywood and I
want to make movies. And you said, well then that's what you should do.KG: 39:42 Well, you know,
MG2: 39:43 And then you got me ah that used eight millimeter movie camera.
KG: 39:47 Yeah
MG2: 39:47 You know.
KG: 39:47 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
MG2: 39:49 And now I'm in Hollywood making movies.
KG: 39:51 So I'm glad, you know, and that when they graduate, you know high
school, okay. And, uh, I asked my daughter, you know. Uh, she said she want to go to Loyola and I said okay. He wants to go to? What?MG2: 40:07 Loyola Nursing School.
KG: 40:08 No, you.
MG2: 40:09 Oh me? Columbia College.
KG: 40:11 Columbia, he went to Columbia.
MG2: 40:11 Cause it was cheap.
KG: 40:11 Finished the [inaudible] you know. And so everything worked out okay.
Well, they got to suffer too, you know, I never could buy them a lot of the things. Which is why I gave them a dollar, you know. But uh, yeah my, my daughter never complained too, either. She knows in a way. And she was uh sixth or seventh grade, you know. I had an old sewing machine, I helped her buy because I, this young guy was trying to make extra money taking orders. So I thought, oh well, we buy that. So I had that, and then she started sewing cause I couldn't buy any clothes. I had [inaudible] all the time, you know. And she buy material and she started sewing bras for me and she buy, make some clothes for herself, you know. So, yeah. Yeah. They had a hard life, but you know, who doesn't? That's why she, she's a real good house cleaner. Yeah.AT: 41:14 If, if you could leave any, any message or legacy for your, your kids
and your grandchildren, what would you want that to be?KG: 41:25 Well, I think they're doing perfect. Yeah, they got a good, his wife
too, Gina. Yeah. Good head. I don't have to worry about them. My daughter too, you know? Yeah. She's the one that tells me, when I'm wrong and this and that. She knows, you know.AT: 41:45 And how about your grandkids?
KG: 41:47 Oh, they're wonderful, yeah! Yeah. Real smart, they, they love coming
to Chicago.MG2: 41:55 You two always tell me, you know, this is America and you can be
anything you want to be.KG: 42:02 Yeah.
MG2: 42:02 You know, which is a big statement for people who had all of their freedom
KG: 42:08 Yeah.
MG2: 42:08 and property and everything taken away from them.
KG: 42:10 Yeah
MG2: 42:11 What, what gives you that attitude that this, this in this country,
you can be anything you want to be. When you were not allowed to be anything you wanted it to be.KG: 42:20 Yeah, well, you know.
MG: 42:25 We're taking too much time for you.
KG: 42:26 We spend too much time?
AT: 42:28 Oh no, not at all. I was just making sure the shot was okay.
MG: 42:32 Talk, talk nonsense.
KG: 42:35 Yeah, you know.
AT: 42:37 You're a nice lady.
KG: 42:37 I figured uh, I mean uh, you can tell. You know, um she's like my
daughter was sick. You know, I had to go to work, I wouldn't pay to send him for this doctor and the wife was a teacher. So if I didn't work, she can't go to work, you know, so, and the was kinda, you know, sickly and I show her. Uh, you take the temperature and the, the temperature if they go up that's right, you give him one baby aspirin. No, he, she used to tell me, don't worry mommy. I'll take care of Michael. He was, she was so small, but I, you know, I had to go because otherwise I, she can't go to work, you know, so uh yeah well, sometimes, you know, he gets sick and at that temperature, and I told them, thermometer if, if it, uh, go up there, uh, give him a one baby aspirin. Okay. Don't worry mommy, I'll take care of Michael. Yes, she told me that's the best child. She was. Every time she comes she take my blood pressure. I said, don't worry, you worry to much. She said know you because of that, I'm having problem, you know? But, um, yeah. And then he has a good wife too, and I'm very, very proud.MG2: 44:05 Yeah. Uncle George asked me before he died if I was gay because we
had no children.KG: 44:11 Yeah. Yeah, my brother, you know he's been dead ten years now. My
brother, the three of us and how old was I? You know, yeah. My older brother came first. He was born in 1919. And then uh, he was in New York, he was in New York. And the last 27 years he worked for Japan airline. He loved the job, you know. And uh, so I went uh, and he died. He had a cancer. That's a very [inaudible], you know, and uh, yeah, he had a rough life. The, the his first wife. Oh, she was something else. Yeah, nothing, you know. So the funeral came, she wouldn't go. She, she said she wanted a divorce. She took the kids and moved to Los Angeles, you know. And so they don't, she met this Irish girl, uh, she worked for airline, but uh different airline, but the same building, they have office over there. So, you know, she was very nice. I liked her, you know. She was outspoken like me, you know. And uh, so they went honeymoon to Japan and all of that. And my first sister-in-law, you know, she's she's, I don't know. I met her in camp, you know. But then, uh, uh, she says, uh, she, oh, four of them came together in New York. And two, so one of the guys said to me, who's going to say a few words from family. And then, uh, or I said I look around, you know, I figured one of the boys would uh, you know. Two boys and a girl and the four of them came from California. So I thought, well, somebody, somebody say they say let Michael say. You know, I was shocked. One of her sons should say it because it's their father, you know. Well the, he says, you know, he, went he and the three other uh, boys who went, a week ago, drive to New York, you know. Got all the t-shirts and the dirty jeans other there. Stayed in the old, uh, apartment, you know, hotel. So they didn't have any, uh, good suits or anything. So he said well, you were shocked too you know?MG2: 46:45 Yeah.
KG: 46:46 Yeah, he was 18 just out of high school, you know. He said, let
Michael do it. Huh? I says hah? Did you say that? Mommy, I don't know what to say. What do you want me to say? She wanted me to do that. I said, gee, I don't know what to say. Just say a few ones. You thank you for coming. You know this stuff. Two days. You did a wonderful job, because you know it's supposed to be a funeral was Saturday and I, I wasn't there Monday and she came Tuesday and supposed to be Saturday. had a everything all planned. [inaudible] and everything. No, she say she came and say, I want the funeral Thursday. Two days a later. They have to do all of it again, because my son have to work. He says I want to do it Thursday. That woman, I tell you, I've never, you know, she wasn't like that way in camp. Ugh.MG2: 47:47 Well, now we're getting into the gossip.
KG: 47:49 Huh?
MG2: 47:49 You should introduce yourself. You didn't introduce yourself. You
didn't say who you were and, and you know where you were born and stuff.AT: 47:55 What's your name?
KG: 47:59 What? Yeah?
MG2: 48:01 Tell her your name and where you were born.
KG: 48:03 Oh, my name is Kikuno, Kikuno Goi. And, uh, I was born in Colusa, California.
