<Begin Segment 24>

MN: Then you were talking about sometimes you, you'd come home late from these block dances and you'd, maybe around midnight, and you'd see the mess hall smokestacks burning hot?

AM: Oh, yeah. [Laughs]

MN: And you'd see just all men in there. What were they doing in there?

AM: You know, weekends they used to have a lot of dances, so I would go to these dances with, with her [indicates wife off camera] or, before we got married and things, and then after I led her off where she lived I would walk home myself and I'd get to my mess hall where I lived, then I looked at the smokestack and it was red hot. I thought, my gosh, in the middle of the night? How come this smokestack is like this? So I got curious. I went inside the mess hall and I see these men in their kitchen area where the stove was and they were distilling fermented rice and things like that. They were making shochu or, you know, the drinks. And then as it comes out of the distiller they had a little cup there, and then he would take a sip and then he would say, "Oh, tonight's, it's really coming out good," they would say. My gosh, and then when they'd light a match to it, it would go up in flame, too. That's how concentrated the alcohol was. So I found out for first time how they made this thing called shochu. And oh, they were really drinking that stuff, so as a result some men were getting ulcers and things like that and they were really affecting their health, some of the, the way they were drinking. But that's all they wanted 'cause that's all they could get. So I found out how they make those things and I kind of, I kind of don't blame 'em for wanting to make that stuff because it was really good stuff. You got to just be careful how much you drink, though.

MN: Do you remember how they make this stuff?

AM: Well, they got the rice leftovers and they ferment that thing and then they put it through the distiller, and then they had it on the stove and, boy, they have to have that thing going pretty strong. That's why the smokestack turned red, because it was red hot. And, well, they were making that stuff and, well, I can't, I can't blame 'em for wanting to drink that stuff because, you know, you're put into internment camp and you were restricted so much from doing things. Of course, some men got out of hand, so they were, affected their health quite a bit.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.