<Begin Segment 19>

MN: Let me ask you about the dances at Poston. Where were the dances held?

DM: Dances were held in the rec. area, rec. building, with phonograph music.

MN: How often did you have the dances?

DM: Gee, maybe about once a month or so. Of course, we country people, country boys and girls, didn't do much dancing, so the Boyle Heights kids would teach us. That was the extent of our activities as far as dancing goes.

MN: What about records? Did you collect records?

DM: Oh, yeah. That's one of the things he brought in, the milkman brought in to us. We'd ask him to get certain records and he'd get 'em. Of course, in those days, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey were popular.

MN: Do you still have your records?

DM: It's at the garage. But I don't have a phonograph. [Laughs]

MN: So the milkman sounds like he was bringing in a lot of stuff, but was he getting additional payment for bringing this stuff in?

DM: Oh, no, we just give him the money to buy the stuff and he was nice enough to get it for us.

MN: How about dating in camp? Did you date in camp?

DM: We tried, I guess. [Laughs] I guess I did, but I can't remember who.

MN: You had a girlfriend, right?

DM: I wouldn't call it girlfriends. Not steady.

MN: What did young people do in camp?

DM: Gee, they had activities like most of the older Issei, they had knitting classes and crocheting classes, that kind of stuff. Of course, the men would have their... what do you call those? Came with a black and white...

MN: Go?

DM: They had these go tables, tournaments.

MN: Maybe some shogi?

DM: Huh?

MN: Shogi? Did they play shogi also?

DM: I don't know what that is.

MN: That's another board game with wooden tiles. Well, let me ask you about your parents. What was your dad doing in camp?

DM: Nothing. 'Cause some people in camp, they had assigned jobs, but I don't remember my dad doing anything except he was, his job was working around the block. Of course, you had to have somebody to clean the latrines, things like that he did, I think.

MN: He had that bad leg. How was he doing...

DM: He'd get around, but then he still got around those days. Later, until he went into, we came back to Boyle Heights that he started using a cane.

MN: What about your mother? What was she doing?

DM: I don't think she had much of a hobby. I know she did a lot of needlework. That's about it.

MN: Now in 1943, the government came out with the so-called "loyalty questionnaire." Was this an issue with your family?

DM: Sort of. I was "yes-yes," but my sister Jun was, I don't know if she put "no-yes" or "yes-no" or "no-no," but she was sent to Tule Lake.

MN: How did you feel about that?

DM: She had a lot of Japanese in her.

MN: What about your parents? Did they ever say they wanted to return to Japan?

DM: No. I don't think that ever came up.

MN: So of all the people in your family, Junko, Jun, as you called her, is the only one that went to Tule Lake.

DM: Yeah.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.