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TI: So what were some of the activities that you did as a kid in Poston? So you're, again, thirteen years old, so what would you do?

JK: Well, you know, all I remember is that in the summertime we just knocked around, try to find a shady spot and go to river as often as we could. And of course, once school started, then you had to go to school. That's pretty much... I'm trying to recall, but I think the first summer we were there I just kind of knocked around, but I know I was there for three summers, and so the second summer I got a job as a plumber's apprentice. I worked all summer. They paid me twelve dollars an hour, so I worked like a slave. And then the third summer I got onto the construction crew, and I was, I guess, what, that was like 1944? I was driving a truck.

TI: So you were about fourteen, fifteen years old, fifteen years old.

JK: Yeah, I was driving a truck. See, my dad had taught me to drive a truck when I was driving when I was like ten or eleven years old, so I knew how. They know, farm kids, you do that.

TI: How about your older siblings? What were they doing in camp?

JK: Well, my oldest, Yo was married and had two kids, and so she was a homemaker. She lived in camp too. Aiko was a public health nurse, so she worked at the camp hospital. And then Haru, I don't remember what Haru did, and I don't remember what Bob did. 'Cause Bob didn't work with me in the plumbing shop and he didn't work with me out on the construction -- wait a minute, no, wait, wait, the first, yeah, see, all of them left after the first year. And I don't remember what Sis did.

TI: So that first year Bob may have, you may have worked with Bob in the first year.

JK: Yeah, I don't remember what he did that first year. Yeah, first, 'cause he was gone by the second summer. I was the only one after the first year.

TI: Yeah, so your siblings left after that first year. Where did they go?

JK: They went to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

TI: And why Colorado Springs?

JK: My, remember the nurse sister? She got a job in Colorado Springs as a nurse, and so then she sponsored my sister Haru and my brother Bob. By the way, I wanted to, I wanted to make a mention there that, I think I realize now, the part of culture is that in the Japanese culture, right, your parents are in charge, right? So once Aiko made the decision she's gonna move to Colorado Springs --

TI: And this was the headstrong one. This was the one that used to bump heads with your father.

JK: That's right. She got orders from my mom and dad, "Well, take your kid sister Haru and take your kid brother Bob with you." So I figured that out here recently. I said, "You know what, why the hell did they do that?" Well, she did it 'cause she was, as a part of a family unit, in spite of the fact that, all this tension with my dad, I always felt it was my mother that told her, "Okay, this is what you're gonna do. This is our marching order."

TI: Because you don't think that she wanted to bring --

JK: Well, she may or may not, but I think, hey, she says, "Hey, that was the thing to do." And she might've wanted to also, get the kids out of there. Yeah. But she didn't call me out there.

TI: Well that's what I was gonna ask, so why not you? You were about, you were fourteen.

JK: Yeah, because I think two was enough is why. [Laughs]

TI: Okay.

JK: So, but see, the other thing too, see, by the second year, right, my mother could see I was going down the toilet education-wise, and so she ordered my sister Haru to sponsor me. And that's how I got out after the second year.

TI: Now, what was it like for you to be an only child? So after your brother and two sisters are, leave the family unit, did the dynamics change with you and your parents?

JK: Well sure, 'cause I, now I'm on my own, I'm just a, now I'm a young wild dog. Okay, and that's why my mom and dad were so mad, 'cause I was flunking school and doing everything. I wasn't, I never thought I was, became a delinquent, per se, but you know, I'm just pretty much running around acting like I knew what I was doing. And I didn't, I really didn't.

TI: So did it change for you, not having the influence of your older sisters and brother?

JK: Yeah, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah, 'cause they were always around me, and so once they, once we separated, I figured I must've become pretty neurotic.

TI: Was there anything in particular in that year that your siblings were gone that you recall, in terms of an example of your behavior?

JK: Yeah, I think I was, at that station in life too, I was in an era of puberty, or post, pre, whatever all that business is, and so I got involved in various little things and, and I've often thought maybe my mother sensed that or something. Like we had a boys club room in our camp, in our block, and no self-respecting, they wouldn't come within a hundred yards of that place, that kind of a thing. I hope I don't, I don't offend your daughter, but like, I was at the age where I was just, I did the guard duty, you know what I mean? So the older guys, whomever they could entice to go in the clubroom would... so yeah, I said, "Gee, a guy like me, I'm the guard guy for all this stuff? What's going on?" [Laughs]

TI: And as much as you can tell me, what kind of activities did the all boys kind of club have?

JK: Well, I know they played cards or whatever, and if they, if they could entice some ladies to come in there, I'm sure they would, they had romance on their mind and stuff like that, yeah. But it was a kind of a, just hang out. It was a guy place. I don't want to suggest it was a wild, wild place as far as gentlemen club of today that are, something like that. And of course, we all had all kinds of sports. They had basketball and baseball and stuff like that. I always remember I lived in Block 26 and we could never win any games, we didn't have much athletic talent, but we could always win the fights afterwards because most of our guys were from the L.A. area. They were from the old L.A. street gangs of the Japanese, the Nisei guys. They were, compared to us guys from Imperial Valley, just country bumpkins, these guys were all city wise guys.

TI: So how did you get connected with them? I mean, here you were, kind of more the country kid, and here were the city folks, oftentimes I heard that they kind of kept separate. But it sounds like you kind of joined the city guys.

JK: Well, they seemed like they were having more fun, I guess. [Laughs] What can I say? They seemed like a wild bunch.

TI: And so your parents could see that.

JK: Oh yeah, I'm sure they, I'm sure. And of course, my grades were failing and everything, you know what I mean? Taking life, I was taking life too casually.

TI: So they got you out of camp. They got you to join your sister --

JK: My sister Haru.

TI: -- and your brother in Colorado Springs.

JK: Right.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.