<Begin Segment 21>

AI: So then when you returned into Minidoka, that was still 1943, and you had mentioned that you had kind of started thinking about going back to school. Were you thinking of applying for college, possibly?

MN: No, because we couldn't afford to do that. And so after being bored in camp for a while, then I applied to go to Chicago, 'cause I had friends in Chicago, and they were willing to (support me). And you apply through Washington, D.C., and it takes months for the clearance to come through. And so when the clearance finally came through, I left for Chicago. They gave us twenty-five dollars and a train ticket. That was big money then.

AI: Before I ask you about the trip and about Chicago, I wanted to ask you one other thing about Minidoka, was about the social life there. I understand that some people had a very active social life in camp; dating, dances, meeting people and so forth.

MN: Yeah, we met a lot of people, and we had dances all the time. And finally, they used to show a little movie, and I could remember the first movie we went to see. It was in the mess hall, and it was Abbott & Costello. And we never laughed so much in my life, that it was one of the highlights that brought us out of the doldrums of everyday life in camp.

AI: Well, and I think you mentioned another thing that happened while you were at Minidoka, is that you met your future husband.

MN: Yeah, it's... one person interviewed me about that, and she wanted to make a romantic story out of it, and so she asked me how I met him. And I says, "Oh, when we first got to camp, the Portland people had not come in, and so I knew a few people from Portland, so we were standing at the bus watching the people embark from the busses. And that's where I met him, but he was waiting for his girlfriend at that time." [Laughs] She says, "Oh, that's not a very romantic story to tell."

AI: Well, so while you were in camp, did you get to know him?

MN: Not that well, but it was later on, after he volunteered for the services that we started to correspond.

AI: And what was his name?

MN: Tom. In fact, it's Tomomi, that's shortened to Tom.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.