<Begin Segment 10>

LH: Do you have any -- kids can have pleasant memories of events that might be very painful for adults. They might sort out pleasant memories. Are there any pleasant memories that you have of either Camp Harmony or Minidoka?

MN: Chocolate covered graham crackers. That was a real treat, chocolate covered. Somebody did not eat theirs and gave me theirs, and I got to eat only my share as well as somebody else's, and I remember that just being just... I can't imagine why somebody would sacrifice their chocolate covered graham cracker and give it to me. I thought that was just great. I don't know why. Somebody had got a hold of a hamburger, and we cut it into three different pieces for all, no... we let my little sister go. She was sleeping, taking a nap or something, so the three of us cut this hamburger into three's and Mom said no, she didn't want any, and I got to eat a hamburger. I don't know why or where we got it from. I think this one lady was a nurse or something and she brought back a hamburger. In fact, she gave it to me, which made me feel so prestigious, and I shared it with my sister.

LH: And you were kind of enough to share it.

MN: Yeah. I shared it with my sisters. That was a pleasant memory, yeah. And I kind of wonder sometimes there was no chocolate and no bananas, is that the reason why I love chocolates and bananas today? [Laughs] Could be. I was a dancer. The Japanese dancing teacher lived in the block, barrack right behind us, and so I used to think that I was good. So I have pleasant memories of being pampered and told I was a good dancer. I remember feeling confident that I knew how to do this.

LH: Was this with the Hatsunekai over at Minidoka?

MN: Yeah.

LH: And that's the girls dance group?

MN: Uh-huh. We went to different blocks and put on performances.

LH: In costume?

MN: Uh-huh. The Hatsunekai Oshousan, she had special privileges, I guess. She had more goods than most folks, the wigs and the costuming and Hatsunekai Oshousan stuff. We borrowed things and put on shows for different, and that was pleasant. I knew I was good and I knew I entertained folks. And they used to say I used to wake up going, "Ching, tong, shang." [Laughs] In a way I think that that gave me a sense of audience that probably had something to do with my later career, choice of careers.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.