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TI: Let's go through, because I know you had lots of siblings, so why don't we just kind of establish, from the beginning. So you mentioned Buddy, or George?

KK: We call him Buddy. Yeah, George, he's George Kazumaro Uno. And then Howard Yasumaro Uno. Then Hana Mei, and Mei is M-E-I, Amy, Stanley, Stanley is (Toshimaro).

TI: Ernest?

KK: Yeah, I'm trying to think of Stanley's Japanese name. I can't think of it right now, but Ernest is (Nobumaro), Robert is Akimaro, and Edison is Tomimaro, and me.

TI: And you, I think, the age difference between Buddy and you is about...

KK: Twenty years.

TI: So it's almost like every two years or so, there's, there is a...

KK: And then, between Edison and (me there) is three years, so I think I was kind of a surprise. [Laughs]

TI: Okay, and so earlier when you mentioned that, when your father would bring home another dinner guest, but you had so many mouths to feed already.

KK: Yes, it was hard.

TI: So why don't we start with, I mean, family must have been a big part of your life because it's so large. Tell me about growing up in such a large family. What was that like?

KK: It was fun. [Laughs] But, yeah, everybody says, oh, because you're the youngest, you're spoiled, you know, but I guess I was, because some of my older brothers and sisters would always look after me and treat me. But I grew up with the four younger brothers, and, of course, Ernie, Bob, Edison, and especially Bob and Edison and I, we were, we ran around together, because we were, they had to take me to grammar school. But they didn't, see, there's, since there's three years difference, they left and went on to junior high when I was still in grammar school, and so I ended up being the only Japanese, only Asian in my elementary school for several years before the war.

TI: Yeah, so tell me, so you have, I mean, you had older sisters, but then, the four right before you were all boys.

KK: Boys, yes. [Laughs]

TI: And then you, the youngest, as a girl. I'm trying to understand, so were you treated almost like, more like a tomboy?

KK: Yes.

TI: Okay, or something more, almost like put on a pedestal?

KK: No, no, no. I was like a tomboy, and I was always following the boys, and they would, always trying to get away from me. [Laughs]

TI: So you always wanted to be around your brothers and do what they were doing?

KK: Yes.

TI: And so describe some of the things you did with your brothers.

KK: Oh, we, well, we lived in an area where there (were) empty lots on one side, and there was, there's all kinds of things to do. We played hide and seek, and we played kick the can and, you know, right in the streets, and we'd play ball, and we'd play ball, throwing it over the, over the house. And then in the backyard we had a area to play baseball and run around there. And my mother had gardens, which we didn't, we'd get into and she wouldn't like. And, of course, there's a clothesline, and then there was a fireplace. In those days you had to burn your own rubbish, and so we had this fire thing to burn rubbish in, and that was one of the things that us kids had to do. And there would be hot ashes underneath, and my brothers would send me in the house and I would take out potatoes, and I would take eggplant, and we'd put it in there and we'd have things to eat.

TI: But they'd send, why did they send you in, and why didn't they go after the potatoes or eggplant?

KK: Because they knew I could get away easier.

TI: So tell me about that. Did you ever recall getting in trouble with the boys for doing something?

KK: Oh, yeah, lots of times. [Laughs]

TI: So what would be an example of that, that you did something, and it sounds like sometimes it was maybe their idea...

KK: It was their idea, usually their idea, and I'd...

TI: What would be an example of one, besides the taking the potatoes and eggplants?

KK: Well, I think one was... oh, we weren't supposed to get up on the roof of the garage, and, of course, they all got up on the roof of the garage and jumped down, and there was a fence in the backyard that we, we would climb over to get out of our yard and get to the other street, you know. And I'm not supposed to climb that. One time I climbed it and I got a big scar here because of the fence going into my skin, and, of course, at that time I had a dress on, and it got torn, and so I got, you know... but we, and then lots of time, just for fun, we'd jump off the roof or climb, we had an apricot tree that we used to climb a lot, and, of course, you'd, when apricots were ripe we'd have a lot of fun there.

TI: So when you would do something like, you know, jumping off the roof and catching your dress and getting a scrape like that, how would you get in trouble? Who would, who would be the person that would sort of be the disciplinarian of the family? Or what would happen?

KK: Oh, my mother.

TI: And would she get mad at you? Or would she get mad at the boys?

KK: No, at me.

TI: Oh, at you, and the boys sort of got off?

KK: Yeah, they got off, because...

TI: That's good.

KK: ...because I'm not supposed to go with them, you know. I'm a girl, you're supposed to stay home.

TI: So did your mother try to, to maybe have different activities for you with the older sisters, or did she try to do more girl things with you?

KK: No, well, just with her, because my sisters were older and they were either in school, or, after they graduated, they went to work. And then my sister Amy went to work in homes in Pasadena, so, you know, she wasn't there. But she would sometimes take me with her to the homes she's working in, and I'd stay maybe two nights there with her.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.