<Begin Segment 15>

BN: So let's now go to Salt Lake City. Do you remember how you left the camp in terms of packing up your belongings and that sort of thing?

SM: Well, I just remember packing the suitcases that we brought with us, getting on the bus to take us to Salt Lake City, and then finally getting to Salt Lake City.

BN: Was it just the four of you?

SM: No, just the four of us initially. I don't recall if the grandparents came on the same bus, but I remember the four of us going.

BN: And then did you or your family know anything in Salt Lake City or were you just going kind of by yourself?

SM: My father knew some people in Salt Lake City. I don't know who it was, but he knew some people. It could have been the local minister, it could have been someone else, but they helped us find housing, helped us locate a business location to start up a store.

BN: What do you remember, or do you remember where you lived and what sort of...

SM: Yes, well, at the first, we relied on a local person to identify a place to stay, it was on the west side of town right on the railroad tracks. The railroad was passing right in front of our house, I'll never forget that. It was not a good part of town. And the neighbors hated our being there and made it clear that they didn't want us. And Mother couldn't take that harassment anymore, so we moved to a hotel room in downtown Salt Lake City, back to a single room, the entire family in a hotel room about a block from the store, and that's where we spent the rest of the time in Salt Lake City.

BN: Oh, wow. So you lived in that room almost like three years?

SM: Yes, almost... well, maybe about two years.

BN: Two, yeah. Wow. And then you mentioned your father started a bookstore. Was it catering mostly to other Japanese then?

SM: Oh, I think it was to almost anyone. It was these old Japanese magazines to people who were obviously interested in Japanese, and also some books and other things that relates to writing or reading. But I remember that we had, we also had some white customers who came in and bought some things, yeah.

BN: Now you're twelve, thirteen, were you helping with the business at all?

SM: Well, as much as I can. I didn't want to, I wanted to play with my friends. Went down to the church and met other friends after school. I remember my parents didn't like that because they wanted me to come back and work on the store. It was not an easy time for us, yeah.

BN: So you must have been in middle school at that point?

SM: I was in middle school, right. I would have been seventh, eighth, ninth grade-ish.

BN: What do you remember about the school situation?

SM: No, not much. It was a junior high school about a couple blocks from me, and no, I don't remember too much about it.

BN: Were there other Nisei kids there?

SM: There were very few. Some of the friends I developed there in Salt Lake City, they went to the same school.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.