<Begin Segment 22>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Yes. How did you find out that you were going to Crystal City? How did you learn that you would be joining your husband?

YI: Well, in our case my husband went there first. We joined him later. It was that way with every household. At that camp, a Japanese person was head of the camp. Germans and others were there, too. There were not many of them, though. It was just like the other camp.

TY: Were there any differences?

YI: Not much difference. The only thing was that we had a mess hall here and cooks cooked for us, but over there you had to cook yourself. So you had to go grocery shopping and cook yourself. There is a store called Anzen here, similar to Uwajimaya. The owner of that store was working in the grocery department. We were given coupons which were a form of currency valid only in the camp. With coupons we bought food, clothes and other things. They gave us glass cups. But the floor was cement and the glasses would break easily if you dropped them. I had small children. If you showed broken pieces, they would give you a new glass. They said, "You bring broken pieces all the time." [Laughs] But we couldn't help it because the floor was cement.

TY: You had to clean up every time a glass was broken.

YI: If a child dropped a glass, it would break easily. But because I cooked there...

TY: So you had your own kitchen?

YI: We grew vegetables nearby. We also planted flowers. They made it really beautiful.

TY: So each family had their own kitchen?

YI: Uh-huh.

TY: Then did you have your own bathroom?

YI: But we didn't have a toilet. We had to go outside. Because we had small children, we used a chamber pot at night. We didn't want to go outside during night. Then in the morning we emptied it. We went to the regular toilet during the day.

TY: Yes. I hear the waiting was not as long as in Minidoka.

YI: Yes. We were there probably for a year and a half.

TY: I mean the length of a waiting line for the restroom.

YI: What is it?

TY: A waiting line for a restroom.

YI: Toilet?

TY: Yes. A waiting line.

YI: There was a separate building for that. We were divided by blocks. Each had a number.

TY: Yes. There was a school, too.

YI: There was a school.

TY: So could Satoru and other children continue their education?

YI: There was a swimming pool. Everything was there. There was a hospital, too.

TY: Were those all inside the camp?

YI: Huh?

TY: Were they all on the camp compound?

TI: Crystal City.

TY: They were in Crystal City?

YI: Inside the camp.

TY: Including a pool?

YI: Including a pool.

TY: By the way, how did you obtain the coupons?

YI: Oh, coupons. They made them. Red and other colors. Ten cents was red, fifty cents was yellow and such. They gave us this currency.

TY: So did they distribute coupons to everybody?

YI: Uh-huh. Their rules. How many people in a family, how many children... the government gave us amounts according to their rules. We could buy clothes with them.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.