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MN: So as you got older at Rohwer, were you able to go out of camp and explore the woods?

TN: Well, later on, I guess they were kind of lax about security or something, we went to the bayou which was, I think, next door, and we caught crayfish and all that stuff. One time I brought back a pet turtle I think, and kept it for a little while, but I guess it wandered off back to the bayou. It goes slowly. I don't know what we did with the crayfish either, or crawfish, whether we ate 'em or gave it away or threw it back in the bayou. I think bayou's like a swamp.

MN: Did you ever get in trouble for going out there?

TN: Not that I remember. One time my friend Freddy and I went way out of camp, went to the levee. I don't know how far we walked, but it was a big levee there. Looked really high to me. And we started climbing up there, and this black woman stood on the top and said, "What you boys doing here? Get out of here." And she pulled out a gun, rifle or shotgun or something. So we said okay, we turned around and ran out of there, ran back to camp.

MN: So, you know, you're going out to the woods, and there's a lot of snakes in the area. Did you ever get bitten by one?

TN: No, no way. But the bigger kids, meaning like twelve year old or so, they used to catch rattlesnakes sometimes. They'd get a forked stick, and branch, and just trap the head in the fork, and that way they could pick up the snake and kill it and give it to the older Japanese so they could eat it. Some old men, they ate it, said it was like chicken.

MN: Did you ever try to eat it?

TN: Nah. I don't want to eat a snake.

MN: This old man, too, you mentioned, didn't he also eat the turtles?

TN: I don't know if it's the same old man or a different old man, but he ate turtle blood soup. It's supposed to be good for you or something.

MN: What about the chiggers?

TN: I don't know nothing about no chiggers.

MN: You didn't get any chiggers.

TN: No.

MN: So you know, I hear Rohwer got really hot and humid during the summer. What did you do to cool off?

TN: I don't know.

MN: Was there like a swimming pool nearby?

TN: No. But they built a swimming pool later on in the next block, but we didn't get to go over there. I don't know what block that was, two or four or something.

MN: How come you didn't go?

TN: I have no idea. I didn't know how to swim then anyway. Could have drowned.

MN: So at Rohwer, how did you keep yourself clean? Like was there American-style shower?

TN: I guess so, I don't know. But there was a furo. We used to go wash in the furo. We must have washed before we went in, I don't know. Must have.

MN: So your block had an ofuro.

TN: Yeah.

MN: Do you know who built it?

TN: I don't know, some of the Japanese guys.

MN: So at Santa Anita you had the measles.

TN: Yeah.

MN: Did you get any other contagious illnesses at Rohwer?

TN: Yeah, chicken pox. My brother and I, Tomoki and I got it at the same time, so we were quarantined in the hospital. I don't know how long, maybe a few days. I heard Rose Ochi and George Takei were there, too.

MN: They had their tonsils taken out.

TN: Oh.

MN: So do you remember if the doctors and nurses were Japanese Americans?

TN: I don't know. Probably, but I can't say for sure.

MN: How was it to be in the hospital.

TN: It was okay. Not as crowded as at home in our own barrack.

MN: Did they give you ice cream?

TN: I don't know.

MN: Hawaiians. Do you remember any Hawaiians at Rohwer?

TN: At the time? No, but our neighbors turned out, the father, he was originally from Hawaii, only I didn't know him at the time.

MN: So while you folks were at Rohwer, do you know what happened to your parents' merchant visa status?

TN: I don't know.

MN: Did your parents ever talk about returning to Japan?

TN: My father wanted to go back to Japan after the war. I guess he was kind of disgusted. After the war he would go talk to the immigration agent about it. He kind of made friends with the guy. He was a salesman, so he was good at making friends with people and stuff like that. And he kept telling the guy he wanted to go back to Japan, but the guy, the agent told him, "I don't think it would be too good for you to take your American-born children back to Japan at this time, because people are starving and not enough food, no place to live." So he decided to stay.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.