<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Yeah, when I think about, you mentioned earlier how different your childhood was compared to, like, kids growing up today, when you mentioned how much you walked around. From your place, you're walking literally miles to downtown, and just sort of on your own, there's no supervision.

TT: No, we'd walk there and walk back.

TI: And what do you think kids today miss because they don't do that? I mean, it's sort of like children today aren't, they don't do that.

TT: Yah, they're not aware of the surroundings. We used to know everything about where everything was, downtown, the stores and everything. Because we used to know where we were going.

TI: Well, and you'd have, in some ways, like a whole day to do that, too, because your parents were busy working, that if you went downtown, yeah, not only were you going there, but you probably didn't have to come back right away, you were probably walking around.

TT: No, we'd go to the ten cent store and have a drink, or have something to eat. [Laughs]

TI: And so what do you think kids today miss by not, by not being able to do that?

TT: They're not as independent, I don't think. They just know that those things are available to them, and the parents will take them, or somebody else's parents take them. Or they're involved in sports. See, we weren't involved in sports, we just had... I don't even know, we played baseball. I think they had volleyball, but I don't remember playing all that. But then we had Japanese school too, during the week.

TI: See, I'm trying to think in terms of how that will impact kids today by not having those experiences, how that will impact them in the workforce. When they become adults, how they will sort of, how their work habits will be different than someone like you, who had to be pretty much on your own.

TT: Yah. Well, they're all involved in different things. My great granddaughters, I mean, they go to school, and then they have afterschool sports, or else they do calisthenics or... they're involved in everything. And then my granddaughter says, I said, "Well, how come you're so involved in things?" But she remembers her childhood and how I used to take her to everything and just keep busy. So that's what she's doing now with her children.

TI: Yeah, so I think that's pretty common, that parents today keep their children busy, but in more organized patterns. And I think back to your childhood, as you talk about it, it was so unstructured. You were busy, but it was all unstructured, you were creating it as you'd go on.

TT: Yah. We just did it because we were doing it, or we wanted to do something.

TI: Other Japanese community events, or even related to the language school. But were there events that you recall where the Japanese community came together?

TT: Yah, when they had picnics, and I really miss that.

TI: Yeah, tell me about that.

TT: Oh, because it used to be up there at Jefferson Park, and we'd all make, the parents would make the onigiri and then it'd be teriyaki chicken, and make nishime. And hakujins would come by, you know, white people, and they'd say, "Oh, everything looks so good," and they'd kind of look over to see what we're eating. And here they said, "All we do is bring sandwiches." But that's what we really looked forward to.

TI: And was it... so everyone would bring food. Did people just eat their food, or was it shared?

TT: Well, sometimes they would share, but it was mostly eating your own food. And then they'd have races and they'd do things, it was more structured. It's not just going.

TI: And so give me kind of a picture, so the kids are probably playing games, what are the men doing at these picnics?

TT: Well, they'd have races, and they'd have to set things up, and then play volleyball or whatever. But everybody kept busy, because they didn't have actual toys to play with, so they would just do whatever they could.

TI: And then how about the women? Were they also doing races?

TT: Yah, or looking at the boys. [Laughs] We just did without because we knew we didn't have it.

TI: So picnics, any other community events you remember, like maybe dinners or anything where you'd have to attend because maybe your mom was...

TT: The kenjinkai.

TI: Yeah, maybe kenjinkai.

TT: Yah, you have to go on those things, just to be there with other people.

TI: And how would you characterize your parents? I mean, how involved were they with, like, organizing these events?

TT: Well, they just did what they knew was available, and that on certain days, certain things happened. And you know, we didn't really do too much. We went where they told us to do, we did everything we were told to do. You know, that's what other people can't understand now, even with the evacuation. They said, "How come you did it?" I said, "Because we were told to."

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2015 Densho. All Rights Reserved.