<Begin Segment 17>

MA: So you had told me that you visited Wapato recently.

KY: Last year I did, uh-huh.

MA: Is there still a Japanese American community there?

KY: Not much, uh-uh. I did go to the church there, and Mas Wada was there, luckily he let us in the church. So mainly why we went was to visit our cemetery that was in Yakima, but we had a few, time to spare, so we went into Wapato. And went to the church, and he, luckily somebody was there, he let us in, and we toured the church. It looks the same, it hasn't changed at all. It's just a small, small town. And he was telling, I don't know how many Japanese went back. I don't think there's too many. I would say a dozen families, that's, I wouldn't even, I don't know if there's even a dozen families there now.

MA: Did many Wapato people go from camp to Spokane that you recall?

KY: There's quite a few. Yeah, there is. I don't know how they ended up in Spokane, but there is, from camp to Spokane.

MA: But you definitely notice, then, that not very many people went back to Wapato after the war?

KY: No, not many. Not many. Most of them probably didn't have anything to go back to. And I don't think they would have wanted to do farming again, anyway, there's all, nothing but farm there.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.