<Begin Segment 17>

MN: And how did you feel about returning back home?

MU: Oh, happy, we were so happy to get back to the ranch and to see the house, our place, we owned it.

MN: So the family that watched over your property during the war did they willingly leave when you returned?

MU: Yes, very good friends, and I don't know... like I said before they moved and took care of the ranch. I don't know if they had their own property or if they were leasing, I don't know the details. And after we came home, where they went, they were still in the area, they were still good friends. As to where they went if they bought anything or leased anything, I don't know the details.

MN: Now in the cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco there was a huge housing shortage? So people were living in the basements of the churches. Did that happen out in your area?

MU: Not that I know of. I cannot remember. There may have been but some of the Nisei families and Issei families, they didn't own property, they leased it. Or by the contract, they had to move on after the season they would move on so they go into camp, they have no place to go home to. So unless they had relatives who had a place, there's no place for them to go. And if they came to Placer county and stayed at a church or whatever, that's a possibility there. But I don't know if that occurred. You'll have to ask some people who would remember that.

MN: Now how did the local community react to the returning Nikkei community?

MU: When you say a community being on the ranch the rancher neighbors and of course they welcomed us back, we're friends. But the town of like Auburn, some of the stores would have "No Japs," the business people in Auburn. And when we went to high school we were... there are cases when some of the students would call us "Japs" and so we Nisei would sort of, like during recess time or lunch we'd sort of mingle in an area away from the main flow of the students. And when they would pass by they would say, "Oh, Japs," you know, I do remember that. But there were not really that many cases and if during the noon hour we'd go into Auburn, it's a very walkable distance, we didn't of course go into the stores, we would just pass by, but I remember seeing the signs and as to how many, what percentage, I don't remember. There probably were not that many because they were used to Issei families, Nisei families, most of the people who lived there. And if they suddenly turned against us because of the war, they had their reasons, maybe their son was taken or something, but I think they had accepted us before and we had no trouble before that I know of. There was a farmer's barn that was burned, but some of these I'm sure are just very isolated cases. But it reflects on our feelings of being welcomed or not welcomed. Other than that I don't have or remember with our family any big unpleasant shootings or chasing us with cars, the young people, I don't remember hearing of it and I don't remember any of that. So personally, I felt comfortable because I was not the only one. My Nisei friends who I met them as they came home, I didn't know them before, became friends and our teachers were fine. They didn't have to say "Maiyo" anymore, they say Minnie because that's when I changed my name. And in a way when I think of it, it's sort of not very wise because the teachers who knew Japanese before would know that the I is pronounced as a E, like Chikako, they wouldn't say "Chaikako," they would say Chikako. So maybe it was not a good time for me to change my name to Minnie, I should've done it when I left the camp but anyway...

MN: Now you were transferring from one school to another school for a few years.

MU: All my high school.

MN: So there was a lot of instability. How did that affect your education?

MU: Having started school a little later than the first day of school, the algebra is the one that really crossed me up. Other than that, like history, English, and I studied, I tried to study and I don't remember having difficulty. I think I felt I'm doing okay and I'll be going onto college, but my goal was to be a secretary, not to go four years for a master's or PhD and that was not for me. My mother would have loved that maybe but I was not that material, I didn't have that kind of a material.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.