Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Takeko Yokoyama Todo Interview
Narrator: Takeko Yokoyama Todo
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: June 9, 2015
Densho ID: denshovh-ttakeko-01-0013

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TI: Any other memories from Puyallup that kind of stand out?

TT: No, then every so often they had groups going from one area to the other to visit. I don't know why we did that, but we'd all have to march together, and we'd go to Area B or whatever. And we'd see all these people we haven't seen for a while. But I don't know what we did there, or how long we visited.

TI: So why don't you briefly explain the layout of Puyallup. We mentioned you were in Area C.

TT: Area C.

TI: How many different areas were there?

TT: They had four. Area A, A was the big one that was inside the... no, that was in another bigger area. And so a lot of the Seattle people were in there. And B was a smaller one, and a lot of the people from the smaller, Auburn and things like that, and we were Area C, we were one of the later ones. And D was the one where people were stuck in their, you know, in the bad areas where they kept the animals and everything.

TI: The animal stalls. And who got Area D?

TT: Oh, I don't know who or why, but they took the areas of where people were moving from.

TI: And so did you join, did you visit the other areas?

TT: Yah, when we could. We'd have to get special permits, and we'd have to be escorted.

TI: And of the four areas, was there sort of a sense that some areas are better than others?

TT: Not really, it was just from where you were living before.

TI: And for Area C, was there like one big mess hall or was there multiple mess halls?

TT: No, it's just one mess hall.

TI: And that was pretty much the same for the other areas?

TT: Uh-huh. And they had our meals at a certain time, and we'd just all go there, line up, and go in. And then we would eat with our friends. See, so you lost all your family contact.

TI: Now do you recall any kind of tension or grumbling about how the camps were being run at Puyallup, or how Puyallup was being run?

TT: No, we just, well, we just knew this is what's happening, and we did...

TI: The reason I ask is that the government was, in some ways, it was almost like an experiment, but they actually had some of the leadership from the JACL take a more leadership role in terms of running Puyallup. And I know that caused some dissention with some of the Issei, and I was just wondering if you sensed any of that.

TT: And our age we just did what we were told, and we didn't think about why they did it. They said, "Why did you do it?" and I said, "Because we were told to. We just followed instructions."

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.