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BN: Looking back now, how do you feel about your family's experience in camp today, looking back?

HT: Well, I think it's what happened, so you got to appreciate it and remember it, what the family had to go through, your grandpa and all that kind of stuff, and you have to appreciate it. And then everything we did, that we've done, we try to endure it. And even all the kids, I think you don't realize how rough it was for the parents.

BN: What did happen after the war to your parents?

HT: Well, my parents, after camp and all that, I don't know, I think my older sister never got married, so she was always around with my father. But then our family, they're really close, so it's really good. And then my kids, they're always there for me, always, if I need anything, they're there. And my daughter-in-law and my daughter Dori and everything, they're out there, you need something, you got to do something. All my siblings are like that, too, it's really good. And it's like I'm getting older, and my siblings and my sister, they're always saying, "You got to do this, enjoy yourself," try to make sure you could, if you have to go to Kokoro, come, don't feel bad about it. If you don't like it, don't go. Even my daughter-in-law said, "If you don't like going to Kokoro like that because you have to, don't go." "If you have to, go." Either way, they're all like that. I have to say, all my kids are like that, they're very supportive. And I can't, I have to be really grateful, they're always checking up on me, make sure I'm okay, my son, even from L.A. he's always calling, "Okay, now what are you doing today?" It's really nice.

BN: How long did you keep playing basketball?

HT: Well, I think until... I don't know, until I could, I guess. I got married so early.

BN: But you kept playing even after that, or not after that?

HT: No, no, no.

BN: Okay. I mean, today, many play into their forties and fifties and so on. But I heard stories that you used to play with your grandchildren and so forth?

HT: Yeah, one time I slipped and fell. [Laughs] Yeah, that's why sometimes, even the youngest was, I used to just feed 'em, you know what I mean? But my grandson's a really good basketball player. He loves playing basketball.

BN: That's good. Yeah, it's a big, many of the Japanese Americans with the leagues and so forth, it's a big part of the community.

HT: Yeah, and I loved to go watch 'em play.

BN: Do you travel with them? Because they go to tournaments.

HT: Yeah, I do, I do. And I'll check, "Okay, where are they playing this time?" The other times, they play at George Washington High School, sometimes at City College sometimes, JCCNC, if I can go, I'm there. I enjoy it, and they're really good. They have a five, we went to see two games, and they had only five people, five, that's it, and they played, they won both of them, so it's good.

BN: And you're completely objective, of course. [Laughs]

HT: They were good, they were good.

BN: Okay, I don't have any, much else.

HT: Okay, that's okay. Well, I don't know if I was any good, but okay.

BN: No, it's good because, especially the stuff on Hunters Point and Sprague River, I don't think we've had people who had that particular experience. That's an interesting part of the history.

HT: Yeah, it was rough for my father to have to go through all that, it's rough. But we managed. Okay, thank you.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.