<Begin Segment 16>

TI: So within the Japanese community in Tacoma, were there festivals and Obon dances and things like that in the community?

HH: Yes, uh-huh. Yes.

TI: So what was that like in Tacoma?

HH: They carried on their regular Obon and festivals, just like any other churches, because it was more of a fundraising at the same time.

TI: And so I'm wondering, when you had your Obon, I imagine the people from, the farmers from Puyallup and Fife also came into town to do that? How many people would be attending these...

HH: Oh, there was a big class. I do have some of the big row picture, it's long, you know, they used to have a camera that used to kind of be able to take a... so it was long. And oh, I would say several hundred people, maybe more than that, attended.

TI: So growing up in Tacoma, what were some of the things with your friends you would play, you would do, I mean, to, for enjoyment?

HH: Well, there wasn't much thing you could do except I did have a basketball hoop that, in the garden area, my mom would always get mad because the backboard is up against the garage and the woodshed, and the ball would bounce all over and get in the garden. [Laughs] And then also, at school, they had several basketball courts.

TI: Now, when you think about the friends that you played basketball with and did things, who were they? Were they other Japanese Americans?

HH: Yes, they were all, yeah.

TI: Okay.

HH: And the church, the Buddhist Church and Methodist Church, they both had baseball team and basketball team in the Courier League, Seattle League.

TI: Right, okay.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.