<Begin Segment 5>

TI: Describe anything else about the neighborhood that you can recall, any memories.

FK: Oh, we, there was a city park close by. And when I was young, we used to go in the summertime to, they had activities, and, you know, they play softball and they had basket weaving and things like that. So I used to do that when I was younger.

TI: How about --

FK: And then --

TI: Oh, so go ahead.

FK: But as I, became teenagers, and we had, you know, joined clubs.

TI: So what, what kind of clubs?

FK: Well, my mother, my folks were Nichiren Buddhists, and they, they had a club there, a women's club, and there were quite a few of us Portland girls. And so we all, we had activities, and it was called the Risho Club, and the, there was the same club in Seattle. And we, I remember we had a conference one time, and all the Seattle people came, girls came down to Portland. And I still remember them when we evacuated and things like that.

TI: So, when the Seattle group came down to Portland, how did the two groups get along?

FK: Fine.

TI: Did you, did you think of, anything, difference that... when you think of Seattle back then, was Seattle, like, more of a sister city type of thing, or how did you think about Seattle and Seattle people?

FK: Well, it was just like us, you know. It wasn't, no difference. We all got along fine.

TI: So, so again, going back to this club, what would be some of the activities that you would do in this club?

FK: Well, we, I think most of, well, most of the time, it was, you know, having dances or things like that. And then it wasn't really associated with the -- it was associated with the church, but it wasn't like a religious club or anything like that. It was more like a social club. And you know Shea Aoki? Well, Shea was our president then.

TI: Oh, I didn't realize she was Portland.

FK: Uh-huh. She was Portland, and she was also in, she was the president of the Risho Club. Can you imagine that?

TI: I can't. [Laughs]

FK: She was a lot older, but we were, we had a lot of girls, you know, nice-looking girls, too. [Laughs]

TI: I'll get to that later, when we talk about Minidoka. But growing up in Portland, how about, like, Japanese community events like Obon and things like that?

FK: Oh, yeah.

TI: Did they have things like that?

FK: Oh, sure. We had -- you know, all the churches did, of course. And in fact, when I was young, I, my mother gave me, I went, I had piano lessons and Japanese classical dancing lessons.

TI: Going back to the Obon festivals, you said all the churches had those. Was there, like, one main one, or were they all kind of small?

FK: No, there were, they were all at the church itself, you know, the church members, and people came to watch, of course. But then all the church members, each church was, had their different Obon dances.

TI: So it would be similar to what happens in Seattle at the, the Buddhist Church in Seattle, the Betsuin there? Did they have, like, a street dance on the outside?

FK: Yeah, right. But in those days, we all wore kimonos -- not kimonos, but...

TI: Yukata...

FK: Yukata, yukata-type of things. And so it was pretty. It wasn't like everybody joined in wearing anything, so it was really pretty, that type of thing.

TI: And how about, like, picnics? Did you have, like, kenjinkai picnics and things like that?

FK: Yeah. There was, just like here. And then the Japanese school, too, also had picnics.

TI: Now, for, like, picnics in Portland, was there kind of a standard place that people would go?

FK: Yeah, they used to go out to this place called Johnson Creek, and it was, it was really a farm where they used to keep, you know, cows and things like that, so there were a lot of you-know-what in the fields. [Laughs] But that's where they had it, and they'd sort of clear it up and then the Isseis would, we'd have races, races and all kinds of things like that. When we were young, it was a lot of fun.

TI: Now, why did they do this at Johnson Creek? This wasn't like a standard park, this was more...

FK: No, it wasn't a park, it was... well, because I don't, I think in those days, there wasn't... in Portland I don't, I can't recall too many places where they could have it in town. It was a little ways, we used to take the streetcar and go out there.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.