<Begin Segment 16>

TI: So how did the Japanese Americans from Seattle treat the Japanese Americans from Alaska? I mean, what were their perceptions of...

RO: I feel personally that they were a little bit prejudiced, thinkin', who are these people from Alaska? Are they part Indian or what? But then the class of the Alaskans showed up fast.

TI: How so? [Laughs] What do you mean by that?

RO: [Laughs] Well, you get along with, especially like us, as I said, camp wasn't really that much of a hardship for, at least it wasn't for me. No troubles, no cares, and fun in those days was clean fun. If you had a girlfriend it'd be, definitely be an exception in those days.

TI: And so when you were exposed to the Seattle Japanese Americans, did you see perhaps a different value system, I guess, maybe, in terms of, were they different in terms of, you talked about kind of the high values your parents stressed to you, the clean fun? Now, when you came to Seattle, I mean, these, a lot of these guys are city kids and it's a very different environment than Ketchikan.

RO: But still I think in their youth the fun situation's very similar, really.

TI: Okay, so not too much of a difference between you and the Seattle kids.

RO: No. I always remember Shig Murao. You've heard of him, haven't you?

TI: Yeah.

RO: Shig came into Puyallup, and I always remember young Shig, who lived in our block in Minidoka, was packin' all the stuff and big Shig's walkin' behind him. He had sort of an entourage because he was a basketball player. But I met several older people that, well, like Akira Kanzaki. He died in Europe.

TI: Going back to the people that came from Alaska, did your ship also contain any Natives from Alaska, the Aleuts or...

RO: No, but I think there were a few of the children that were part, part Native and part Japanese. There was, I think, several of them, but not a lot.

TI: So when I hear stories from the Seattle Niseis and they mention going down to go look at the Eskimos, was that to look at, at your block? I mean, they talk about that.

RO: [Laughs] Probably.

TI: Yeah, they mention that, that...

RO: See? That's what I mean. They sort of felt that we were a little bit inferior to them.

TI: Now, I was always confused, because the Aleuts had their own camps in Alaska, so the, the Native population really didn't --

RO: Well, there was a few Natives.

TI: A few, but not very many.

RO: No, not many.

TI: But I hear these stories and I'm just curious what that meant when they said they were going down to go look at the, the Eskimos.

RO: Well, it's prejudice for you, without knowing the facts.

TI: So they're probably going down to your block and just looking at the ones who came from Alaska. But they were, again, they're, they say there was nothing else to do.

RO: They want to see if they're different.

TI: Yeah, probably. It was, again, they talk about it in camp. At Puyallup there's really not much to do, so mainly just kind of walk around and do things.

RO: No. There was a situation where there was a couple of Nisei that were draft age and they didn't want to have to go, so my mother had somehow concocted some alcohol and stuff for them to drink. [Laughs]

TI: And what would happen when they drank it?

RO: They didn't pass, anyway.

TI: Oh, so whenever they drank, if they drank it, then when they got their physical or something they wouldn't pass.

RO: Yeah.

TI: And how would your mother know how to do this? Did she have kind of --

RO: We had a bar, see, we had a bar in Alaska. It was called the Welexum Bar, which means "big" in Tsimshian.

TI: So your mother knew how to mix drinks, and she knew that this particular combination would, would do that.

RO: Alcohol.

TI: Interesting. So any other memories in Puyallup that you can think of before we go to next camp?

RO: Well, I remember eating in the mess halls, that's the first thing. We had never done that before. I just remember the living conditions, that struck me as hard. My brother actually climbed over the partition and fell in the next room in his sleep.

TI: So it was like sleep walking.

RO: Yeah, exactly.

TI: This is, what, Neil?

RO: Neil. Neil fell into a room full of women. [Laughs]

TI: [Laughs] So I bet you they were surprised.

RO: He was only a little kid, about fourteen. That was funny.

TI: So that was your neighbors essentially. He just kind of...

RO: Yeah, next door. Right.

TI: But that must've caused a big commotion.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.