<Begin Segment 6>

MN: Now since your parents were Christian and you boys were baptized, what were your Christmas like?

IH: Oh, usual Christmas, Christian Christmas. Tree, decorations, presents. Parents, the year they gave us the bicycles it was a big (thing). We were just kids, really a big moment for us to come out and see the bicycles there. And I think at that time we still believed in Santa Claus. They enjoyed doing that.

MN: That's a nice memory. How about Oshogatsu? Did your parents do anything special?

IH: No, you know, I think we might have participated, but we never did anything at home such as pounding mochi and stuff. We did have a special table set out with mochi and the usual shogatsu. I think those kind of traditions they observed.

MN: Now, during the summer, you shared this memory of going to camp. What was that like and who did you go to camp with?

IH: That was sponsored by the school. There was all Caucasians, maybe a couple of, three Japanese kids. But it was sponsored by the school and it was summer camp in Big Pines, lasted about a week. Those were real fun camps, we enjoyed that.

MN: Now at home, what kind of food did you eat? Did you eat Japanese food or American food?

IH: Probably a mix of both. And maybe a few other kinds as well, Italian and Mexicans. My mother loved to cook all kinds of foods. In fact, her daughter-in-law was quite surprised when she first started cooking, after our wives came to dinner sometimes.

MN: Do you recall any, like, peddlers coming around to sell perishable foods like tofu?

IH: Yeah. Fish, there was a guy in a fish truck, might have been others as well. Vegetables, maybe.

MN: And then you also shared that you raised rabbits.

IH: Yes.

MN: What did you do with the rabbits?

IH: I raised them and sold, killed, 'em and skinned them and sold the rabbit. Small business. We had to take care of the rabbits, feed 'em and clean up their pens and so forth. But, yeah, I learned how to kill rabbits and skin 'em.

MN: How do you kill the rabbits?

IH: You have to -- it's quite brutal -- you have to hit 'em in the back of the head with a long piece of iron.

MN: And is this the money that you used to go to the movies?

IH: I guess, so, yeah. Had little savings accounts.

MN: Now, before the war, did your parents ever talk about visiting Japan? Did you visit Japan before the war?

IH: Never. They were too busy, I guess, working and trying to make a living.

MN: Did your father drink at all?

IH: Early in his life, in his college days, I think he did take to drinking. Very un-Christian of him, I'd say. And he told me, he told us he used to go on these binges, pretty bad. But he quit after he got married. He got more responsibilities, so he stopped. He did, I know, after the war, there was a time when he was under a great deal of stress. For about a week there he was on a binge.

MN: Is that from trying to restart his business, restarting his life?

IH: Yeah. It was very difficult.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.