<Begin Segment 4>

MN: Do you remember the day you left for Santa Anita?

TN: No, I don't.

MN: When you arrived at Santa Anita, where did you live?

TN: Well, I don't remember too clearly, but my parents said we lived in a horse stall, and that it still smelled of horse manure.

MN: Now you're still, like preschool age. Did you attend any classes at Santa Anita?

TN: I think I went to kindergarten. I think it was kindergarten, I'm not sure.

MN: Where did they have the classes?

TN: I believe it was in the grandstand.

MN: Now you're still very young and you're with a lot of people. Did you get sick at Santa Anita?

TN: I had measles. I remember my father was taking me to the doctor, holding me by the hand, and I fell down on my knees on the asphalt. That's one of the few things I remember.

MN: And the doctor that saw you, was he...

TN: I don't remember that.

MN: Did you have to be quarantined?

TN: I don't know. I have no memory of that.

MN: So tell me about that riots at Santa Anita. Where were you?

TN: I was with my father somewhere, going somewhere, then a bunch of people were going off, running in one direction, 'cause they said there was something going on, a riot or something. So my father wanted to go see what was going on and took me along. And then there were a bunch of people gathered around, looked like they were beating up one guy. I think somebody hit him with a bottle. And then the U.S. Army came in, they were on their little trucks with machine guns on the back, a lot of soldiers in each truck. That's all I remember about that.

MN: So when you witnessed this, what was going through your mind, how were you feeling?

TN: "Oh, wow, there's a fight."

MN: So you weren't scared?

TN: No. There were a bunch of other Japanese people around, and my father was there.

MN: Do you have any other memories of Santa Anita like the food?

TN: I think we had to line up for mess hall to go eat, I think. Took us long lines heading for the grandstand. But I don't remember too much about that. I don't remember the food or anything.

MN: Did you get diarrhea?

TN: I don't think so. Or my parents probably would have mentioned that.

MN: What do you remember of the --

TN: What did this diarrhea thing come up? Why did this come up?

MN: Because a lot of people who were at Santa Anita early on got diarrhea.

TN: Oh. Maybe we weren't one of the early ones.

MN: Maybe you were, like, in the middle somewhere. The early people definitely got diarrhea.

TN: Oh. That's a lot of toilet paper.

MN: Oh, there was lines to get into the latrine.

TN: Wow.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.