<Begin Segment 22>

BY: All right, so last question. So how do you think the wartime experience changed you? I'll let Mary go first.

MK: I think in many ways, it made us aware of the world. Otherwise we'd still be in a little Japanese town and just that life around. But this way, everybody became citizens of the world. In many ways it really helped. Because look where the Japanese are. They're all over, they're writing everything, they're making history. [Laughs]

BY: Okay, so there were maybe some good things about it.

FN: Yeah.

BY: Well, what do you think, Frances? How did the wartime experience change you?

FN: Well, the wartime experience didn't change me, but I was proud of my parents. Because here we move out of camp, go to College Place, work on the farm, eventually buy the farm and be able to stay there and own the property. So I thought that was very, thinking back now, starting out with just a hundred dollars for the whole family of five of us, and being able to buy the farm and be where we are now. I think it's a wonderful thing that my parents were able to do.

BY: So then were there two farms? So Mary and George had a farm, and then there was another farm? Or was it all one farm?

FN: No, George and Mary's family had another farm, so we were two different farms.

BY: And did you grow onions as well?

FN: Yes. Onions and...

TI: How large were these farms?

FN: How large was our farm? Gosh, I don't know how many acres we owned. She may remember how many acres in College Place, but I don't know.

BY: And do you still have those farms or were they both sold?

FN: No, my brother sold the place.

BY: Okay, and the Kato farm is also gone?

FN: Yes. Yeah, George sold, her husband sold the Kato farms.

MK: Twelve acres. And then he rented some other land besides the twelve, but the original was twelve acres.

TI: Should we go ahead and ask that last question?

BY: Yeah, yeah.

TI: Because I changed it to "younger generation." So, Mary...

MK: Take advantage of all the things, take advantage of everything that comes your way. Bad things maybe, but then there's a good side to it, too, and you learn things. Pass it on to the next generation.

BY: And so the question, Frances is, looking back on your --

MK: Like what you're doing here, you're making history.

BY: Well, we're collecting it.

MK: But like I said, you have to live it to find out, you know. You could hear all about it, "Oh, the poor things," but then you have to live through it in order to appreciate what you do have.

BY: Okay, so Frances, the question is, looking back on your life, what advice or words of wisdom would you want to share with the younger generation?

FN: I think with the younger generation they should realize how important it is to have our freedom, and for everyone to get together and enjoy each other's company and each other's heritage.

BY: Okay, thank you very much, both of you.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.