<Begin Segment 15>

MN: So you got to Manzanar, and were your entire family, except your father, were you able to live together?

JM: Yeah. Two families. So usually two families lives in one section. There's four sections to the, we had a separate room, and that's where the Uyematsus stayed, and we stayed in our (side).

MN: When you say separate room, though, are you talking about just separation with the sheets?

JM: (No, we were separated with a partition but no door).

MN: Oh, it's an actual wall there?

JM: Uh-huh.

MN: Now Terminal Islanders mainly lived on Blocks 8, 9, and 10. Which block did you live in?

JM: Nine.

MN: So do you remember the Bainbridge Island people?

JM: Yeah.

[Interruption]

MN: Okay. I'm gonna ask you, do you remember --

JM: The Bainbridge group was next, they were in Block 3, so they came in before us.

MN: Did you ever get into fights with the Bainbridge Island people?

JM: No. I never got into fights. I was always there stopping the fights.

MN: When you first arrived in Manzanar, what did you do?

JM: Well, there's a lot of guys our age, so we got together. There's a rec room, recreation room, so we went in there. We just talked. We just communicated with each other, played with each other.

MN: What did you guys talk about in those early days?

JM: I don't know.

MN: How long was it before you started attending the junior high school in Manzanar?

JM: It wasn't too long. They got all the teachers in, all the Caucasian teachers came from all over. And lot of the teachers are dedicated people.

MN: How would you compare Manzanar, the education you got there, in comparison to the one you were getting in San Pedro?

JM: Well, San Pedro you had specific classes. Over there, they had different classes, but we didn't study. Nobody studied. In fact, I had a teacher that was really tough, and she put me in the front, right in front of her, and that's the only place I really responded to her. She really liked me. [Laughs] Everything she picks me, and I don't know where I got the answers, but I always had the answers.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.