<Begin Segment 15>

DG: So tell me about getting ready personally. What did you decide to take and what did you decide to leave?

MM: That was hard.

AM: What?

MM: What to take and what not to take to camp.

AM: We (were allowed) one duffel bag to Puyallup.

DG: So what did you take?

MM: They said maybe we'd have to work on a farm.

AM: So we bought, ano...

MM: Slacks mitanano ne.

AM: And we thought we might work in camp, in a inspection camp or something. So, something to work in.

MM: No party dresses. [Laughs] But in camp, though, they had, dances and parties, you know. But...

DG: What did you do? Go in slacks?

MM: The Sears, Roebuck was the catalog, it was the Bible there. [Laughs] So, but that was a help, too, 'cause, you know, we didn't take very many with us. (...)

DG: What did your parents, what did they take or say or...?

MM: We went -- Pop was picked up just before we went into camp, wasn't he?

AM: Yes.

MM: But then he was released after we got to Puyallup. So he was one of the fortunate ones to come out. I think he's the only one who said, when they were asked, "Who do you want the, which country to win the war?" And Papa said, "Neither." I think it struck them. I think other people said, of course, Amerika-yo. And you know darn well isn't so. [Laughs] So I thought, well, Papa's pretty, pretty smart, I thought.

DG: Well, tell me a little bit about going to the assembly center.

MM: We had to congregate at... do ka, Lane Street, ne? Yeah, Lane Street, kind of a quiet road. And then all the big buses were there and we, they checked your name off as you boarded the bus. And then they took the back roads to go to Puyallup. They didn't go on the main highway, you know what I mean? Side roads. And I don't know how many buses there were, but quite a bit. And we were allowed only one duffel bag each.

DG: So, what did you think you were going to?

MM: We couldn't imagine what it could be -- but at least we didn't get into the horse stalls. We got into the, the newer built, ano, that, what they call, shacks, or whatever you want to call it.

DG: So you were how old at that time?

AM: Did you ever see, they had camp life?

MM: Yes, you have...

DG: I went to visit once. What was it like, for you?

AM: Like? It couldn't be any more barer than that. [Laughs]

MM: Bare, very bare.

AM: The toilets had holes in it.

MM: Oh, yeah, you could peek through next door neighbor's. You know, what's going on next door peeking through a peep, you know that knots (...) poke out? [Laughs]

AM: No privacy at all.

MM: But there was a mess hall so you really didn't have to cook for yourself, which in a way some housewives appreciated that. But, of course, ano, food ga oishikunai desho, so they cooked their own rice, and bring home whatever they were serving, so, but...

DG: So did your family stay together?

AM: Uh-huh.

MM: In the meantime, my brother wanted to go out and he did go out. But he did farm work, and he never farmed in his life.

DG: This is after you went to Minidoka?

AM: Uh-huh. After we got into camp.

DG: Okay, let's finish with the assembly center. How old were you, at that time?

MM: High school. High school. Mine, I think, high school? Deru denai gurai, dattakane? Detetakane?

AM: I don't know.

MM: I was about sixteen or seventeen, seventeen, maybe, 'cause I, yeah...

DG: And you were how old, Aya?

MM: Six years older than that. So about twenty-three.

DG: Had you gone to school, beyond high school?

MM: She went to business college. Papa asked her if she wanted to go to the U. None of her girlfriends went, so she said, you know. That time I guess you think about friends more than education. But she really didn't need an education 'cause she did well in business. And she took the bookkeeping course in high school, so. So she finishes her course before the rest of the kids, so she's helping the teacher.

DG: So your intent was to stay in business and...

MM: Help Pop.

DG: ...directed in that direction.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.