<Begin Segment 13>

TI: Now, when you were at Crystal City, did you ever get in trouble? Did you ever do anything that you weren't supposed to do?

JN: Well, not really in trouble, but I could have gotten in trouble.

TI: So tell me about that. What were some of the things that maybe you didn't get caught that you did?

JN: Well, there were orchard of grapefruit. Oh, I tell you, on my way back from school, I would never walk on the pavement, I would go behind our homes, the people living there, another path, I would run, run, and all of a sudden I see the orchard and I would climb inside, move the barbed wire. Some guys already moved it already, so it's a big opening. So I would go in and climb up and see the grapefruit, it's big. And you take it and you start peeling it, and not knowing how bitter it is, wow, it was bitter. And I remember going, again going through the back, everybody's back, somebody had things growing, so I see sugarcane. And so I went (to pull and break it) and just take off, and just peel it. Sugarcane, you would peel that outer skin and chew on the inside, and things like that. Other than that, nothing getting in trouble, I never thought of it, but that was fun, again, running through the paths, the different path. Going to school or going to all the classes that I was taking, I mentioned kendo and sumo, calligraphy writing. One thing I didn't understand was not a Boy Scout, but I grew up, in Japanese, they would call it Seinendan, these are boys from maybe eight maybe, to about fifteen, sixteen. We all wore uniform, and the uniform was just a cap, white shirt, short khaki pants, white socks. And at the time, I didn't know why we all had the same uniform. And I realized the uniform, the soldiers would wear that during the summertime in Japan, a cap with a cherry blossom insignia. And I never asked anybody why we had to dress up that way. But time went by, and I forgot. I tell you, camp was a new journey for me.

TI: So you did this, you didn't really understand what was going on when you were eight and this was going on. Do you have a better sense of what that group was and what you were doing?

JN: No, I thought that was part of... I was taking kendo, so I thought they were same group. Very Japanese-oriented.

TI: Yeah, so I'm wondering if it was kind of a training, or a group that... people thought that maybe you would go back to Japan or something.

JN: Oh, well, you know...

TI: That that would prepare you for that.

JN: Exactly what you're telling me now. We went in the morning. We would face the sun all lined up. If you watch that, we look like a soldier. We would face the sun and bow, this is still (early 1945), war's not even over, so I'm sure it has something to do, we're bowing to the emperor. So, of course, after the war ended, nothing to do with that anymore. Thank you for asking me, I almost forgot.

TI: No, I'm glad, I didn't know this story. I didn't know that they had... I know Tule Lake, there were stories like that. I didn't realize Crystal City.

JN: Yeah, yeah, I saw some of the pamphlet.

TI: Any other good stories about Crystal City? Anything that you can remember? Like your parents, what did they do during the day?

JN: Oh, I don't know about my mom, but my father was interested in, it's called, not shigin, but it's called utai. You could hear this probably in kabuki, you don't sing it but you sort of talk and try to explain a scenery or whatever you can think of.

TI: So this was a group that your father was part of?

JN: No, I only heard at home. But I'm sure there were groups like that, they get together and then they chanted all together. But no, my father didn't... we would laugh because he's not singing, so we would laugh real quietly. I don't know what my mom did.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.