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MA: So you arrived in Crystal City, in Texas, and what were your first impressions of, of Crystal City?

YA: Well, the first thing we saw in Crystal City was a statue of Popeye, 'cause that's the spinach capital of the world. That's where, Zavala County, that's the spinach capital. And then from, after seeing that, we were driven into Crystal City and taken to... we lived in a triplex with two other families. And we arrived there with the clothes on our backs. We hadn't taken shower for four days on the train. No change of clothes, so they immediately got clothes, clothing for us. And got to know our neighbors, our housemates. There was a couple, and I knew her niece, I happened to know her niece. And there was another family from Hawaii.

MA: In general, what, who were the other internees there? Where were they from? Were they from all over?

YA: All over. They were mostly from California. And the mainlanders... there weren't too many from the mainland. Mostly from Peru. Peruvians were, there were lots of Peruvians. I would say half were Peruvians. So because the mainland Niseis were, you know, we were a very small group, so we got to know everybody. And we are lifelong friends.

MA: What about other... were there German, Germans there?

YA: There were Germans also. Not too many, but they had the best quarters. Originally -- now, this is what I have read -- Crystal City was meant to be for Japanese. And I think the Geneva Convention, you cannot mix German and Japanese prisoners. So the German prisoners happened to arrive there first, and they got the best quarters, and they were supposed to be there temporarily. But the quarters that they had occupied before were much, were not as good as the Texas quarters, so they refused to leave. So that's why they were able to stay and the Japanese prisoners got the other buildings. The German quarters, they had a bathroom, shower, in their room, in their house. They had houses.

MA: And what were your quarters like?

YA: We only had a running toilet and we all had sinks. We had all, sink. But we had to go outside for our shower, community, communal shower.

MA: Were there, going back a little bit to the Germans, were there children there or was it mostly just men?

YA: There were children, there were children. I think some of the students, high school age children, went to the high school there. But they had a German school there. But there weren't that many Germans. Not too many.

MA: They had a German, like a German language school?

YA: I think so. They had a German school. But I never went to the German side at all. Only what my friends have told me.

MA: So in general, was it pretty segregated with the Germans and...

YA: Uh-huh. Not that we were not allowed to go, but we just stayed in our own section.

MA: What about the Japanese Latin Americans and the Niseis from the U.S., was there interactions there?

YA: Very, very little because we had no common language. And most of the Japanese Peruvian children were much younger than, than me. They were maybe ten, twelve, in that range. There were three teenagers like us and we spoke in Japanese, our limited Japanese.

MA: Was there a Japanese language school that you attended?

YA: Oh, yes.. I went every day to Japanese school, 'cause I had finished American school. And I learned everything in Japanese: math, language, every subject... geography, even Chinese writing, and art. Everything was in Japanese and it was taught by Buddhist priests, everything.

MA: What were some of the major differences, I guess, between Crystal City and Minidoka in terms of living conditions and...

YA: Well, for one thing, we did our own cooking. Everybody... every family got a food allowance in camp tokens. And the money, mothers would go to the market every day in their homemade carts. The wheels are wooden and we could hear 'em, the click of the wheels on the street. We would get our food rations for the day. And depending on the age and number of children in the family, you had more rations. And my mother was a good cook. And we had a stove, it was a kerosene stove with two burners and we even had a portable oven, and you'd be surprised how good bakers there were. They made cream puffs and cakes and cookies. Yeah, even I would make cookies in that oven. It's surprising what you could do with limited utensils. But if you have the ingredients, you could make it.

MA: How was your father at that point?

YA: Well, it was really a relief to be together as a family and I think my father, he really changed while he was incarcerated that one year, year and a half, by himself. Well, he was with other men, and he was no longer the autocrat. He learned to listen to us.

MA: Oh, that's interesting.

YA: I was amazed that he had mellowed so much. And I imagine during that year and a half, he had time to reflect on, maybe his relationship with his children. He was a good father after that. [Laughs]

MA: That's amazing.

YA: Yeah, it's really amazing. I actually enjoyed life with my father after that, even after, out of camp. We were able to talk to him like a parent and child. Before, it was just ordered... you know, he would order us to do this and that. So he really changed.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.