Densho Digital Archive - Yukiko Miyake Interview (denshovh-myukiko-01-0029)

<Begin Segment 29>

YM: And another interesting thing -- this was in Minidoka, the Issei ladies always had a chamber pot. And in the morning they took the chamber pot, and they greeted everybody in the good morning, and then they would clean it out in the bathroom or something in the -- yeah, bathroom. But there was a lady that used to make otsukemono in the chamber pot. And when I was sick, this lady was kind enough to make some otsukemono for me and bring it over, [Laughs] and my friends wouldn't let me eat it because they said, "How can you? How do you know she didn't make a boo -- you know, make a mistake?" So I never ate her otsukemono, but I always had to tell her how nice it was and thank you very much. I never knew who the lady was, but she was always bringing otsukemono over, but my friends said, "No don't touch it. Don't touch it."

SY: That's funny.

YM: It is funny. Then we had rattlesnake medicine, but I really don't know how they made it. But they put live rattlesnake in some kind of a jar and kept it, and then they would say drink this for medicinal. You will get well, but I never did. I couldn't. I didn't think. We had a lot of fun. Well, yeah, listening to gossips and maybe that's not right, but it was enjoyable while it lasted.

SY: You mentioned this one woman that made otsukemono, did people make other kind of Japanese foods in camp; and if they did, what ones were there?

YM: I had a friend that used to make osushi every so often. She didn't make it very much and she used to come way up. She lived in block 2 or 3 and used to come up to blocks... I think I lived in Block 42, and she used to bring it up to me and that was good. But that was... I don't know what she put in it, but it was good, because we never got to eat osushi that much.

SY: How did she get the nori?

YM: That's it, I never knew. Maybe some friend of hers sent it because there were a lot of people still outside the camp, and so they might have sent it to her. And she might have, you know, but usually people brought you things when somebody came in from outside.