<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So describe Crystal City, or describe meeting your father after all these years now.

KK: Oh, just, you know, we're a family that would just hug each other and say hi. It was nice to have him around. Crystal City was a different kind of a camp, in that each family had a unit, and it had a sink in it and it had a kerosene stove, so we cooked for ourselves. We didn't go to a mess hall. And we had camp money. There was one kind of money for clothes, another kind of money for buying food, etcetera, and there were stores that we went to that had whatever we needed. You know, butter and meat and fish and vegetables and all. And, of course, a lot of that was rationed, but we could still get it, but we had to pay for it with our money. And so it was like living in a little town, rather than a camp. And half the camp was German, and when we first got there there was a couple of Italian families there, also. But as soon as Italy joined the U.S. then the Italians were taken out, but my first ballet teacher was an Italian lady. And then I had to stop because she left.

TI: And when the Italian teacher, was she like an Italian immigrant, or was she like a Nisei, like a U.S. citizen but with Italian parents, do you recall?

KK: I think her husband was Italian Issei and that she was a Nisei, or maybe Sansei, I don't know, but she was American, American-American.

TI: So she just, to you, seemed like another American, and you took ballet from her.

KK: Uh-huh. And I also took piano from a German lady that was there, and then she left, so I didn't take any more. It was an interesting camp because of the two... and the Japanese, the Japanese camp was very "Japanesey," and the Buddhist priests kind of tried to run the Japanese camp. We had Japanese school from nursery to high school. The Germans had German school from nursery to high school. Then the Americans, we had from kindergarten through high school. We had two schools, the elementary school and the high school. And most of the Japanese went to the Japanese school during the day, but those of us who didn't want to go to the Japanese school, we went to the English schools.

TI: Oh, interesting, so you had a choice between Japanese or the English.

KK: Yes. But then we had to go to Japanese school after school. My brothers wouldn't go, so I had to go.

TI: So your brothers went to the English school and then after that they refused to go to --

KK: They refused to go to Japanese school.

TI: Why did they refuse?

KK: They didn't want to go to Japan. They didn't want to learn Japanese, they didn't want, they're just real Americans, you know.

TI: So why did you go to Japanese school, then?

KK: Because I was the youngest and somebody had to go. [Laughs] I had a lot of things because I was the youngest. You do it, you know.

TI: Going back to the English school, was then that a mixture of Germans and Japanese?

KK: Yes. That's where I got my good, my German girlfriends.

TI: So, in the same way, the Germans had a choice to go either to German school or the English school.

KK: Yes.

TI: And roughly, what was mix between Germans and Japanese? Like, how many, was it about half and half, or was there, do you know what the ratio was?

KK: You mean in the whole camp?

TI: No, just in the school.

KK: Oh, in the school? Oh, no, there were just a few Germans. Mainly Japanese. And, let's see, what else would you want to know?

TI: Well, so you mentioned, so you, there were a few Germans, but you made friends with a couple of German girls.

KK: Yeah.

TI: More so than Japanese girls?

KK: Yes.

TI: So talk about that. Why... tell me about the German girls first.

KK: Oh, well, we just kind of came together. We're still friends. One played the accordion, and so when the Germans had any kind of, they would have Friday night beer parties and stuff, or whenever they had, she'd have to play accordion, so we would go in and watch her, go with her. And then Rosemary was, she was just a nice person, and she and I just got together like that, you know. Her father, it was her mother that was interned, and then the father lost his job because they found out the mother was interned. And he couldn't support Rosemary without a job, so he packed her up and took her to Ellis Island, and took her suitcase and told her you're going with your mother. And then he went to the men's side and he said, "Let me in," and so he went in, and then they came to Crystal City as a family.

TI: You know, I'm curious, so the mother was interned. Do you know why she was interned?

KK: They, she belonged to this exercise gym, and the Germans used the gyms a lot, I found out later. And she happened to be in this one gym that the Germans used. She had nothing to do with it, but because she was a member and she was not a citizen, they interned her.

TI: Okay. So it's like guilt by association, not because she had done something, but because she was there. So you're friends with two Germans, did you have the same relationship with, say, other Japanese Americans? Close, a close...

KK: Not really. I spent most of my time with the Germans. But I had a few Japanese friends. We did a few things together and all, but my long friendships were with the two German girls.

TI: How about Edison and Robert, did they hang out with Japanese or Germans?

KK: Japanese. And they were very popular. [Laughs]

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.