<Begin Segment 10>

MN: So you didn't want to go to Japan, so what kind of living arrangement did your father make?

YY: Well, that's why he had hurriedly asked his best friend. I'm sure they were a little reluctant, but he said, "Until I get back," so he gave 'em some money. Of course, he stayed on during the war. The war started and he didn't come back for eight years. So they were stuck with me.

MN: And this is the Takahashi family that you stayed with?

YY: Uh-huh.

MN: Did you know them before you moved in with them?

YY: Oh, yeah. They were one of my mother and father's best friends. So we used to visit, I knew who they were.

MN: And what was Mr. Takahashi's profession?

YY: He was custodian at this Union church.

MN: What was it like living there?

YY: Well, we were... you know, I'd climb a flight of stairs and the sanctuary and up, and then there's another stair up and there was a little place to live. But it was so creepy. I'd come home from school and I have to pass through that hallway, up the stairs. There might have been a few, made you feel very creepy. And sometimes a drunk would be sleeping in a pew, I was scared to death. It was dark. So it wasn't real pleasant for me, but my obasan was very religious. She'd go down and just pray in the morning. She cooked healthy food. Reverend Toriumi used to live downstairs in another... you remember Reverend Toriumi? Yeah, he came upstairs to eat and I had a little crush on him. [Laughs] And then he met Sophie Tajima and he married her. But he was such a nice person.

MN: And then the church that you're describing is the old Union church.

YY: Yeah, Union church is a theater now.

MN: East West Players. So where did you live? Did you live in the attic area?

YY: Well, actually, it was a sanctuary and then there's the upstairs, and there's a little home there, a little house with two bedrooms, I think, one bedroom or two bedrooms up above. And just below there's a little small (apartment), so Reverend Toriumi lived there, so it was a little place to live. For a custodian, I guess, when they built the place.

MN: And then you said there was another schoolgirl living there.

YY: Uh-huh, Michi Kawashima, I think her name was, Kawashiba or something. She had gone to a TB sanitarium because she became sick, but she was one of the very few persons... I was glad she was there because like a big sister, she kept me company.

MN: And when you were living there, did you have to do, like, chores around the church?

YY: Oh, yes.

MN: What kind of chores?

YY: Well, for one thing, I used to hang things on the knob. She didn't like that, "You hang it up in the closet." She was strict. She had to teach me because... [laughs].

MN: Did you continue going to Japanese language school?

YY: No. As soon as my mother died I said, Papa, he's sympathetic because I'm so sad, so he let me quit. So I was real happy.

MN: How about piano lessons?

YY: I don't know why I quit. She was real nice, I enjoyed that. But something happened.

MN: Do you know, like, what happened to your prewar piano and all the furniture when your dad went to Japan?

YY: Well, my piano, I gave it to... oh, when I moved, I took it with me.

[Interruption]

MN: Your prewar piano?

YY: Uh-huh.

MN: So you still had it during the war?

YY: Let me see. Maybe it was another one, I can't remember, but I know I... maybe my father got me another one because we didn't have a piano then, I suppose.

[Interruption]

MN: So this must be after the war.

YY: Uh-huh, after the war. I don't know what happened to it. We just lost almost everything.

MN: But since you play the piano, did you play at the congregation?

YY: No, I was just, for enjoyment. I would have never been a good pianist. I'm too shy in front of people. You know how my mind just blanks out when I get too excited.

MN: Well, did you become active with church activities?

YY: Well, I did, I joined the church. I was in the choir and activities, but I didn't play the piano. I was, joined the church, Hollywood Presbyterian.

MN: Hollywood Presbyterian? Not the Union church choir?

YY: Oh, I was too young then.

MN: Oh, but later on...

YY: But these people were about five years older, but they said, "Come on, Yuri, join us." But they had their own groups. I just sat and listened to them. So I knew them all.

MN: So the people in the Union church choir were about five years older?

YY: Uh-huh. Yeah, because the Fukui, Soichi, he came to camp, Heart Mountain, there was a dance, he'd dance with me. He was light, a very good dancer. I snuck out one day and I told my ojisan, I said, "I'm just going to look in the window," and somebody asked me to dance so I went in, and I didn't come home 'til twelve. Oh, boy, did I get it.

MN: This is at Heart Mountain?

YY: Yeah.

MN: So was Soichi Fukui like an ideal dance partner?

YY: No, he was just one of the bunches, he just knows me, so he asked me, so I said okay.

MN: And he was in the choir also?

YY: Yeah. My obasan was good friends with his folks, so used to go back and forth, so we knew each other very well.

MN: So, let's see, your mother passed away in 1940. When your father went to Japan, he was not able to return.

YY: No, the war broke out. He waited too long, I think.

MN: Before we get into the war, I want to ask you about your schooling again. When you were living with the Takahashi family, you were still going to Berendo junior high school and you graduated from there. What was your graduation like? Did anybody come to your graduation?

YY: For the junior high?

MN: Uh-huh.

YY: I think my obasan and my brother, oldest brother, he was working at a florist and he got me a nice orchid corsage.

MN: And where was Takeo living at that time?

YY: I think he had an apartment of his own.

MN: And then from there you went to Polytechnic High School?

YY: It was Belmont, actually, but I got transferred to Polytechnic. That was before the war. I mean, during the war, I guess, but also there, there was only two, they all dropped out as soon as the war broke out. And this other fellow, my obasan said, "You have every reason to go. You're American citizen," so she made me go.

MN: This is right after Pearl Harbor, Monday?

YY: [Nods] So I felt kind of funny, but she says, "You have no reason to quit. You're American citizen, you go," she said. So me and this other boy, I guess, we were forced to go to school. Nobody was there, I mean, Japanese.

MN: So how did the other non-Japanese students --

YY: They didn't treat us badly. I wasn't scared, it's just a little awkward because I had to do what I was told.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.