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VY: Yeah, so talk about that. What was a typical day like for you when you were growing up in the early days?

DC: Well, I certainly remember getting up and feeling miserable right away because I knew she was gone, and looking around for her. And then having to deal with the realization that she was gone for the day, and I was there with my grandfather. And, I mean, there was so many years' difference between him and myself, right, he was eighty and I was maybe three or something, I mean, what would we have to talk about? We never really had a conversation. He was there, he cooked for us, he polished my shoes, he helped me get dressed. He always made lunch for me, but it wasn't my mother. And so this closeness that I knew in Minidoka, although I don't recall, and that I knew in bed, at night, was just taken from me every morning. And then, on the weekends, because my brother had opened a launderette on the west side of Chicago, and my sister, Ruth, had opened a launderette, I can't remember exactly where it was (West Madison), but anyway, she opened one. And everyone went to work to help them out. So the weekends, she was gone as well, and so was my father. And so it was very lonely, in a way, I felt abandoned, and eventually I became old enough to go with them.

But when we went to Chicago, the overarching ambition of all the Nikkei that were released was to become economically independent, right? Because we had no income from those years we were in camp, or little stipends that people received from the menial tasks they performed, but nothing that would keep you going financially in an independent way. So Betty and Flora who were very young at the time, were working in violation of the child labor laws, but they had to do that. I mean, all the members of our family were working except Dorothy, who was married and at home with her children. So the attention of everyone was outward, was not inward. And so, I mean, of course, we had family get-togethers on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and on Sundays, generally, we gathered together. But this sense of these people, they were so much older than I, right, and they had interests outside the family, and they were developing networks thanks to an individual called Abe Hagiwara, who was a social worker at the Olivet Institute. And he devised this, he came up with this idea of creating these social clubs so that the Nisei would have a chance to mingle and meet with one another. So my sisters became members of the Philos Club, and I don't remember the ones that my brothers became involved with. [Narr. note: Junior was a member of the club called the Exclusives.] And they'd all wear these jackets, these satin jackets with the name Philos in the back, and they would go bowling together. And there were certain activities that Nikkei were allowed to participate in, but I think things like tennis was out of bounds.

VY: Why tennis?

DC: Well, tennis always has had that kind of upper-class British emphasis, and you have to wear certain outfits to be on the court. But if you're bowling, you're indoors, you're less exposed, and you don't have to dress in a certain way. And bowling is often sort of considered sort of a lower-class activity, I think, maybe. And so I think they felt safe bowling, and I think that was where Betty met Art. So they had all these social clubs, and they were all going to movies and having fun, and, "How come I can't go?" They were my brothers and sisters, but I was just a baby. And they talk about things like Barefoot Contessa, the movie, and I'm thinking, "How come I can't go there?" go to that movie. And, of course, they were dancing to the music like Billy Eckstine. And so they'd have records, and I would play them, and that would be my way, sort of, of relating to their social life vicariously through the music, Vaughn Monroe and Stan Kenton. And then they would sometimes go to the Aragon Ballroom and dance there. So they worked and they had a social life. So despite the fact that they lost that rural community they knew in Hood River, they were reestablishing themselves in Chicago thanks to the efforts of Abe Hagiwara. And there was another social worker, Chiye Tomihiro, beautiful people, just lovely, lovely people. And I think Chiye was their, the Philos' advisor. And I remember my sisters going to the local, I don't know what you call it, like an arcade store, and you could record music. And so they would sing songs to these 45 (rpm) records and bring them home, and then I would play them and trying to relate to that. So they were busy, they were going to high school, they were going to work after high school. In fact, I think Betty and Flora, maybe even Claude, Jr., had to leave early to get to their jobs. But just like Paul did, Paul had to leave school to help harvest apples in Hood River, they all kept up with their studies. So I guess we were competent academically. Yeah, and then when Betty started dating Art -- and we called him Shiba -- it was, I think, back then, people sort of made nicknames for people.

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