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TI: Now, your sisters, were any of them performers, too?

MN: No. But my sister started to take shamisen lessons. Who would teacher her? I guess because, I don't know how old she was, but maybe the war interrupted it, I don't know. She must have been a teenager when she was learning shamisen, because I know it was at the Venice house. And my little sister was always a little rambunctious child, no one could keep her down, she was always rambunctious. Being that she was raised with no parents, no supervision, no one could handle her. But she eventually became a very good singer. In her sixties, she became a very good singer, beautiful voice. She died untimely.

TI: Do you think if she had more training when she was younger, she could have also been a performer?

MN: I think so. I think so. She had a lovely voice, and she could sing Japanese songs. She didn't know what she was singing, but she could sing it, karaoke. And she married -- this is really going far, far away from where we started to talk -- but she married a fellow from Terminal Island who spoke Japanese, understood and read Japanese, so he was able to tell her what the song meant and how to sing it. So she was able to do it beautifully. Go to Japan and Hawaii and take in all the contests for karaoke, she would win, either come in first or second. No one knew that she couldn't sing, know Japanese until she started to sing. It was really amazing.

TI: Oh, that's a good story. As you sort of got recognized through your performances, how did your siblings feel about that, when they would see you up on stage getting all this attention?

MN: They were quite supportive. And eventually, my brother, he had a nice voice, my sister had a nice voice, but they were all very shy. I was the only one that was a ham. And so we made up a trio, and we sang at the Nisei Week talent shows, and my singing teacher is the one that taught us all the harmony. And so we had a great time performing at different functions, too, at JACL group functions and at the talent shows at Nisei Week in L.A. So we all, the three of us used to sing.

TI: And so even before the war, you were, you and your family were quite well-known as performers.

MN: I don't know, I guess so. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, so let's... well, before we go to the war, I'm just curious about things like, oftentimes when I talk to a lot of Niseis, when they're going through school, they had to go through things like Japanese school and church. Did you participate in those things?

MN: We did not go to Japanese school, we did not go to church. Only went to church for services for Father and Mother's memorial services. My kid sister, being so rambunctious and hard to handle, had to go to Japanese school after school to keep her out of the house to be quiet, so we could have a little bit of -- this is not nice to say-- but she was really a holy terror. And so, but she lucked out in the long run because she was able to read and write Japanese, and we couldn't. But she could not understand what she was reading and writing. If someone told her to write this, then she'll write it. If someone sent her a letter all written in hiragana or katakana, she would be able to read it, but not knowing what it meant. Because we didn't speak Japanese at home, we all spoke English. So she lucked out in the end. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, that's interesting. Because she was so rambunctious, she was essentially -- was that a decision your brother made?

MN: Yeah, my brother and my sister said, "She has to go to Japanese school to tone her down." [Laughs]

TI: That's interesting.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.