<Begin Segment 21>

SN: Before we took a break, you were telling me that you were in Pinedale for ten months. And you described the life, what life was like, the communal life, the lack of privacy, and the conditions that you had to live under... the climate. And that was quite a change from your life before that. How did you feel about this change?

SH: Well, we knew, I knew that there was nothing we could do about it. Wasn't much use in complaining. We just try to make the best of the situation. Tried to keep busy. They had classes, art, stuff like that. I was surprised so many of the Issei, the talents they had. Like your dad, you know, doing stuff like that. You never would even think about people being able to do that. There were lot of hidden talents that, when they were busy, life, coming over here and trying to make a living for the family, you know, and didn't have time. The Isseis enjoyed it, which they deserved. They worked so hard. I can remember my mother and my dad working from daylight to dark, even after dark, seven days a week. And now, when they went to camp they didn't have to worry about working hard to keep the family going, just so they were together. And, they had, some of them, it was a change for them. But the, for us Nisei and Sansei, Nisei at that time mostly, well it was just the idea to be treated like an enemy alien. I did think that I could see why they may want to gather up the Issei, 'cause they were non-citizens, not because they didn't want to be, they were ineligible for citizenship until 1958, '57, '58. And because of the war, well, they had probably had, they might say that they had some right to do that because they were aliens, but then again, it was the United States' fault that they weren't. They wanted to be but they wouldn't let them be. We were citizens by birth so that couldn't be taken away. But I could remember the Isseis -- and they were up in age, forty, fifty, some in sixties -- well they got to take it easy for a while. Some of them enjoyed it.

SN: They displayed hidden talents.

SH: Yeah.

SN: Like what kind of things did they do? What kind of things did they do?

SH: Men played shogi and hana, just, just talk... had so much free time on their hands, I could remember my mother worked so hard, they were just like everybody, like your grandmother worked hard all her life. Those that were farming were -- because of the fact that they weren't, I can't make a blanket statement, but they didn't have the education in Japan, so when they came over here farming was the easiest thing to start because they didn't have to have education as such, just so you's halfway smart. But if you had education you probably went into business, both husband and wife. My mother had no schooling, she didn't get a chance to go to any school. She was what you'd really call illiterate. Couldn't read it, couldn't write it, just speak it. Her younger sisters all had some education. And, in that age group, that of our parents, the Isseis at the time of evacuation, ladies never had a chance to get too much education, especially if they were farmers. If they lived in the cities, then that was a different story. I think my dad said he went to about the fifth or sixth grade, is all, which means that you didn't finish grammar school. He impressed on us that you got to get an education, if you want to better yourself. Unfortunately, he passed away, so, when we were young yet. And so I didn't get a chance to go on to further education. But we all three did graduate high school.

SN: It sounds like your father really influenced you in many ways.

SH: Yes, he did.

SN: What's the...

SH: He was a little different, I say this, he was a little different than the others. He took me fishing 'cause he liked to fish. I could remember my neighbors on both sides in Midlakes and Bellevue, I don't know of any Issei that took their son or daughter fishing, taking trip, my dad always... 'cause he loved fishing so much. And he liked baseball. And he liked judo, so he got me into taking judo. And he was one of the few Isseis that would go to a baseball game out of town. He didn't go when I had to go too far, like to Tacoma, he didn't go. You know, today you go to Tacoma from Seattle, it's a half-hour. From Bellevue, those days it was about a two-hour drive with a pickup truck or truck, go play baseball. I remember going to Tacoma to play baseball on Sundays. But my dad always allowed me to go on Sundays to go and play baseball. Some of the parents wouldn't let them play. Your relatives, they got to play. And, he insisted that we go to Japanese language school, so that we could talk with him. I think that's, that's normal, I think that's natural, too. The more languages you know the better off you are. More schooling you get the better off you are. I did do judo, I think I mentioned this, I, I did it for, ten years, I guess I practiced, what, ten years of judo. Took me that long. It wouldn't have taken me that long if I was older when I started, but I started when I was young, so you gradually got better until I got a black belt. I've only used it once. But it gives me confidence, in case I have to I could protect myself.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.