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VY: Going back a little bit to your earlier days in El Centro, what was your relationship with your parents like?

MK: Oh, very good. My mother was left with rearing the children Japanese-style, and there were a few times, I remember, when I was old enough to know about Shirley Temple and Deanna Durbin, and we would ask our mother first. We always asked Mother first because she was the easiest to get to, if we could go to the movie. And I would tell her, "It's not a bad movie because it's Shirley Temple." And then she would say, "Go ask your father." And we would go to him, and he was a little more strict. But now and then he would give permission, and so my mother would give me the money and we would take off and go to the movie.

VY: Now, when you say "we," would that be you and your friends or your other siblings?

MK: My sister right below me and other friends.

VY: How many siblings did you have?

MK: I had two younger sisters and one younger brother.

VY: So you were the oldest?

MK: Yes.

VY: Did you feel like you had more of a responsibility by being the oldest?

MK: Yes, my mother put that on my shoulders. She said, "You're the oldest, so you have to set the good examples for your younger siblings," and watch my manners especially.

VY: Do you think you did that?

MK: I tried. [Laughs]

VY: How would you describe yourself then? Would you say you were more shy or more outgoing?

MK: Well, at home, my siblings teased me and called me "Tiger" because at home I just roared. And I was born in the Year of the Tiger also. But outside, I was very shy, and it was difficult for me to even talk to my friends, to initiate a conversation. But if they talked to me, of course, I would respond. But other than that, I would just be very quiet.

VY: Did you have a lot of friends?

MK: My classmates, yes. And my friends that attended the Japanese language school all in one grade, we were all friends.

VY: How often did you go to Japanese language school?

MK: Monday through Friday right after public schools were over. We spent about two hours at the temple all studying Japanese.

VY: And was it the same for... well, let me back up a little bit. So you were born in El Centro, Did you grow up in El Centro or did you move a little bit?

MK: Yes, we grew up in El Centro, partly, and then we moved to Brawley, which was not too far from El Centro, but it was, I think, north of El Centro. And then we were there, and I think I must have been about seven when we left El Centro. And from Brawley we moved to Bakersfield and I started, I remember, seventh grade in Bakersfield. And spent about three years, seventh, eighth and ninth grade, and then the war started.

VY: Okay. So was it the same in all those cities or all those towns? Did you attend Japanese language school in each town, and did your parents' barber shop business, did they kind of bring that with them to each town?

MK: Yes, in Brawley we had that. And Bakersfield, my parents did the barber business for a short while, and then my father became ill with diabetes, so at one point he had to give his shop up. And then my mother took in, if I remember, it was home laundry. They gave up their barber business. And so after my father became ill, then we moved down to Delano, which was not too far from Bakersfield, and my father passed away in Delano in April 1940. And shortly thereafter, another Japanese woman who knew our family introduced my mother, and we acquired a stepfather and moved back to Bakersfield.

VY: Do you think... why do you think that your mother remarried?

MK: Well, she was not very strong. And so I guess she felt that it would be helpful if we had a stepfather. And at that time, she started taking in home laundry.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2018 Densho. All Rights Reserved.