<Begin Segment 55>

TY: [Jpn.] Then, did your family of six live in one room?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. We all lived in the same room. In one room.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Oh, no, we got two rooms there. We had two rooms at Tule Lake.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you have two rooms?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. They gave us two rooms.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Because we were a large family.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] They gave us two rooms.

TY: [Jpn.] Were the rooms connected inside?

MK: [Jpn.] Since it was a barrack, it is just a long, long house. It goes all the way back. You just get different numbers. Uh-huh. So, in the beginning, we had small children and the next door neighbor also had small children...

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] And the ceiling... the barracks don't have ceilings.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] They just built outer structures.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] So, we had partitions.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] We all had partitions. We were put into a building with nothing but partitions at Tule Lake. So children throw something to a neighbor's child while playing and the other child throws it back. But we were better off because we had two rooms.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] You are not watching everything.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] That's between children. They did such things.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. I heard it only much later. If somebody needed something, the neighbor children throw things over (the partition). They threw things back and forth. I was told later. I think it's a great thing for children to do.

TY: [Jpn.] The whole house was a play house for them, wasn't it?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. For the children it was a good house... a great camp.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, what kind of things were there in your rooms?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, what do you call that...

TY: [Jpn.] Huh.

MK: [Jpn.] A tall thing made of iron and you put coal. Coal.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, yes.

MK: [Jpn.] Coal, but you could use wood, but we all used coal. Every morning we went to get coal. We had to bring it to our room.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. And it had a flat area on top. It was flat on top.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] When you burn coal, the top gets really hot. You can use it for anything. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] What did you do with it?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, it was so convenient.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. What...

MK: [Jpn.] Because we don't have a kitchen.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] We used it as a kitchen.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] You could do anything with it.

TY: [Jpn.] What kind of things did you cook?

MK: [Jpn.] What?

TY: [Jpn.] What did you cook?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, but we didn't cook very much.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Because we were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Besides if I want to cook, I have to cook for more than two or three people.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Therefore I couldn't. Yeah. But probably someone who liked cooking must have cooked lots of things. Although I haven't heard of it personally.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] They must have cooked something. Electricity was available. If you brought electric appliances, you might have been able to cook, but I am not sure. If you bring an extra appliance...

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] But I wonder if we had that strong electricity there.

TY: [Jpn.] Huh.

MK: [Jpn.] Did electricity come... was there electricity strong enough to cook? I don't think there was. Because the military fed us and there was no reason for them to provide us for cooking. There was no need. If you think about it, it is obvious.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] See? When they provide us with three meals, there was no need for them to do such a thing.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] See?

<End Segment 55> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.