<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Tell me a little bit about, what was your father like? How would you describe him, kind of his personality?

JN: Oh, at that time, there wasn't too much communication. Like I said, he would probably talk to my brother and elder sister, but not, we're at the bottom of the totem pole. So nothing until later on, after we came to San Francisco.

TI: But then at your age, at eight, there probably, if you had to be disciplined, like if you're late for something, was it your mother or father who would discipline you?

JN: Oh, probably father.

TI: And how would he do that? What would happen?

JN: Well, let me tell you one... this time that I really felt bad what I did, you told me a while ago if I had anything, if I get in trouble. Well, what happened was everybody, my older brother and sister, my father and mother, probably did some job, what sort of job, I don't know, but they were saving a little bit at a time. And I happened to be in that room, and knowing where they were stacking the money, and I was thinking, and I took some of my friends, and went to get some candy. I came back and they asked me, "Did you take the money?" I said, "Yes, I did." And I explained why, and they probably, somebody yelled at me, "Why'd you do that?" And I told them the story, I told them why I did it and who was involved. So I named certain names, and either my father or my brother got their names and asked their parents to come over to our house, and they did. And I apologized, I was crying. I had never done anything so bad that I feel really sick. And I explained to all the parents, my father said that I should apologize to them, and but also apologized to my father for having their kids joining me to spend some of the money that they stashed. They worked hard for, whatever they did, I don't know, but in camp, there were some jobs, and my father was also in the laundry part. People making shoes, people worked at a shoe... but that's what he did, yeah. I almost forgot, you asked me.

TI: No, this is interesting. So your father had you apologize to the parents of the other boys that you essentially treated them to candy and things. So why did you apologize? What did you tell the parents?

JN: Oh, for influencing them to come with me and go eat.

TI: Oh, so you apologized to the parents for, in some ways...

JN: (Yes, I had).

TI: ...making their children, to do a bad thing.

JN: Exactly.

TI: And then after that, the parents apologized to your father?

JN: Father.

TI: And what did they apologize for?

JN: Oh, for following.

TI: Oh, for their children...

JN: Their children, and they shouldn't be doing that.

TI: And after doing that, what did you think? As you said, this was something very powerful to you, I bet.

JN: Oh yeah, it really hit me hard.

TI: I can tell it still hits you hard now to have you talk about it.

JN: Right now, oh, I feel worse than what it was then. Because I understand. They understood too, when I was young, you don't think about that. But now I do, because of the money that they stashed, I just changed completely.

TI: And so do you think this was just a really strong way for your father to give you a lesson? Because if he just, maybe, got mad at you, that would have been one thing, but for you to have to stand in front of these other adults and apologize must have been very, very difficult for you.

JN: Oh, yeah. So I learned my lesson. I changed quite a bit as I was growing up. I would listen more to my father. He was very strict later on. My father... well, I'll tell you later, after camp. But in camp, like I said, I enjoyed being there. I don't want to make fun of the families that were separated (from their) parents, father, I really felt bad, that I can feel for them. But I like to tell some of the stories that I enjoyed when I was there.

TI: Yeah, and those are all important. Because I've done lots of these interviews, and men and women who were your age, many of them talk about the very fond times, that you were able to play and have so many new playmates and new experiences, and they didn't have to worry about the world, really.

JN: Camp was enjoyable. Movie was shown outdoor, indoor, they were shown outdoor, you would go to like this [claps] or the mosquito would come, and you would rub lemon all over your face to watch the movies.

TI: Now, were these movies English movies?

JN: Yeah, English movies. There was Japanese movies, too. I was surprised to see Japanese movies. Oh, must have been old films. In camp it was very Japanese-oriented. Even though there were Niseis, they were staged in Japanese. Like I said, the undokai, classes would compete against each other, of course, kendo and calligraphy, all that. I didn't know there were Nisei there. I was surprised after that other camp.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.