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TI: So let's go back to your sister a little bit more in terms of, so she was very outspoken in a good way, you told that great story about getting, approaching an ORA, so Office of Redress Administration official.

KN: And she really was almost like the head of the family in a sense because my parents were getting old, and she was always responsible. She got married, she had a son and a daughter, her son's coming to the pilgrimage and he's quite active with the Buddhist church. But during this period after camp, well, even the boat ride to Crystal City or to New Orleans, there's this document that my sister kept asking for milk for me, I was twenty months old, and basically they just ignored her. So through this trip, through that three-week period, basically I had nothing going as far as nutrition. They didn't feed us very well, so she was active just in that sense, for me. And then she worked hard again, I think she must have felt that responsibility and she worked for the Flower Mart. And Flower Mart, they opened early, like probably four or five o'clock in the morning, so she worked there. And she and my dad and myself, we fell in really poor health, we ended up with TB. And I don't recall how we got out of it, meaning how we recovered, because there wasn't a simple solution as we have today. But she worked hard, and between my mother and my father and my oldest brother and my sister Kiyo, before then, they got jobs that they could get. And I don't think they were making very much money, probably four of them combined maybe made the equivalent of one good salary.

TI: So was it really hard, again, talking about your parents, how much they suffered and how much they lost, had to start all over. Your sister was, lived with some of that also.

KN: Yeah, she was already, like my oldest, they already went to high school so they were educated in Peru, but not educated here, but they had to find good jobs, or jobs that can at least make a living. So there's hardship, just my sister alone. The third sister was going to school, so she started in exactly the same school that we all went to. Those days, the grade level went from kindergarten to like the eighth grade or so. But even through that, she worked as a, I forget what that's called, a house... a live-in...

TI: A live-in domestic?

KN: Yeah, so she did that in her high school years. So that's not a great life for someone that's having your good years in high school. So everyone suffered in different ways, and I think my two sisters, it's hard to tell about my older sister because we didn't hear much of her for a long time. But I know Kiyo and Sumi, they did all the work. In fact, all of the information I have, all the documents, Sumi is the one that kept all that in order, and it's because of her I have all this.

TI: So she was kind of the family historian in some ways, and now you've taken over?

KN: Yeah, she gave it to me, which was great, because with my mom and dad just not able to communicate to really anyone, I mean, she would pay for the mortgage, write the checks for bills, she did all that. So she was the gatekeeper, if you will.

TI: How about your oldest brother? What happened to him?

KN: Yeah, he got a job in the laundry because that's all we knew, the laundry business. It's called Pine Laundry, on Pine Street right off of Fillmore Street. It was Japanese-owned and he worked there for a number of years. I don't know when, exactly, but he ended up getting a job at Bank of Tokyo. And that was great because it was hard labor, if you will, and that gave him a sense of, I guess, pride, because now he's wearing a suit, you know, more professional. I have no idea what kind of income he was making, but it was good. It was good the fact that he moved up the ladder, if you will. Then he got married in 1956, I remember, because I remember him buying a car, a '56 Chevy. And he and his wife... actually, he has a brand new car, really a beautiful Chevy, it's called Bel Air, and their honeymoon, he gets in a crash. That was kind of a sad story. I remember that only because... let's see, I can't remember, '56, I was fourteen years old, so he would have been driving into the garage and backing up, just so I could have a little fun. So he did well and ended up with a good life. Nothing unusually high end or anything, but good, and his wife was really good to our family.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2019 Densho. All Rights Reserved.