<Begin Segment 39>

AI: Okay, well, we're continuing on with our interview with Art Shibayama. And Art, just before our break we were talking about the pilgrimage to Tule Lake that you and Betty went to. And I was wondering, you know, when you, when you first heard about this pilgrimage, what were you expecting? What did you think was gonna happen at this thing?

AS: I was thinking about how dusty the place was gonna be and there isn't much left there. So, I, I wasn't too crazy about going, actually. [Laughs]

AI: And then when you actually got there it sounds like it wasn't too comfortable either?

AS: No. Yeah.

AI: And had you --

AS: But the Sansei, you know, made it so we can relax more and enjoy the trip.

AI: And you had gone up on a bus, it that right? Taking a bus ride from San Jose?

AS: Uh-huh, from San Jose.

AI: And that is several hours' ride because --

AS: Right, that's almost all day.

AI: All the way...

AS: I think it's eight hours.

AI: Because Tule Lake is almost to the California-Oregon border.

AS: Uh-huh.

AI: And had Betty ever been back there?

AS: No.

AI: Since she was in camp?

AS: I think that was the first time she went back.

AI: So the two of you were there for the whole pilgrimage, then?

AS: Uh-huh, the whole, the whole thing.

AI: Was there anything there that kind of stands out in your mind, something that you saw there or that happened at the pilgrimage?

AS: Well, our friend, Aki Sasaki got interviewed by one of the San Francisco stations, one of the major stations. So, so he, so he was on the news, the six o'clock news.

AI: Oh, my.

AS: And then after the, not after, but at the end they had the door prizes. And our friend Aki, he's kind of bald and he, he got a, he got one of the prizes to go to the beauty shop. [Laughs]

AI: Oh, that's a funny one. [Laughs]

AS: And then I got a prize to go free lube and oil filter. But that was for Berkeley.

AI: Oh, that's so funny, and here you have --

AS: Gas station in Berkeley, California.

AI: You have your own service station.

AS: And not only that, but this part owner of the Berkeley station, I knew, I knew him. [Laughs]

AI: Oh, that's funny.

AS: We met in Chicago when we were going to school.

AI: Is that right?

AS: Mechanic school.

AI: Oh, what a coincidence. Oh my, that's funny. Wow. Well, so after this pilgrimage, then, and you got back home, what, had your kids, either of your kids go, or did they --

AS: No.

AI: Did they know that you were going on this trip?

AS: They knew, yeah, they knew we were going, but they didn't go.

AI: And did you end up talking to them about it or had, did they have any questions about what this was or why you went?

AS: No, they might've asked my wife, because she was, she was in camp there for a while.

AI: Right.

AS: So, but I didn't know anything about Tule Lake, so I didn't, they didn't ask me.

AI: Right.

<End Segment 39> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.