Densho Digital Archive - Yaeko Nakano - Kenichi Nakano - Hiroshi Nakano - Stanley Nakano Interview (denshovh-nyaeko

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TL: What other memories do you have -- and I'm really asking this to Kenichi and Hiroshi and Stan -- of the experience that your parents had in the camps? What kind of memories did you come to the pilgrimage with?

KN: Well, I only remember through these photographs, these black and white photographs, like the one where I'm sitting on the little toy train and things. So, you see those black and white photographs in this, more like this desert environment, and you always hear these stories about how windy and dusty it was; so I was quite surprised when we first went on the tour yesterday, how green everything is. Even though I know this is an agricultural area, I had in my mind a very arid, kinda desert-like environment. So that was quite a surprise.

HN: Well, I think for me, all my impressions are just because of family gatherings, both of our uncles, and everything else. And this is probably pretty typical, but you hear mainly stories of good times, of picnics, of funny things happening, of little things like when somebody would get umeboshi in or something like that; and everybody would share them, just to have the flavor. And that's really more my memories, more than everything else. And then when I got older, started reading books and kind of adding to that and asking, finally being old enough to actually ask questions about -- well, like in Tule Lake there's that one gentleman that was shot and killed. And I would ask, "Were you there? Did you know what was happening? What did you feel like?" And so then coming here, then, it was interesting trying to sort of picture all this again; of actually being on the site and looking around, and talking to people and looking at the maps, and trying it figure out well, where was the block that they were in? And talking to some of the other internees, and just trying to fill in this whole picture of what camp life in general was about as well as trying to understand a little bit more about what happened to my family there.

TL: Stan, how about you?

SN: Well, growing up you just hear stories here and there what's going on, and I never really thought of it so much as, "Well, these were my parents under these conditions," and stuff. It's just kind of stories to me. And recently I read a novel, and parts of the book go into where the family is taken to the camps, and the conditions and everything. I was going, "God, this is terrible," and everything. And then it dawned on me, "Wow, these are my parents. They went through this." You know, "My brother was born in this." And it made me feel so mad, so... all kinds of things. And so I was really happy that this occurred this year, that I could come down here and find out more.

TL: As you heard stories from other internees, did it give you a different sense of what your mom and your dad might have gone through? Or did it sound kind of similar so you had this bigger sense of, "Wow, there is a whole bunch of people who went through the same kind -- "

KN: Oh, I thought everybody's story was very unique and different. And, I mean, it was all one, but everybody had a different experience and it was very moving to hear all these. This thing that Stan talks about anger, I grew up with this anger, and not knowing where this anger comes from. You just, you don't know why you're mad, but it's in your gut. And like today, just, or the last couple of days, hearing these stories -- I get, I start crying, and I don't know these people but you can just feel it, and it's a very emotional thing to hear all these stories.

TL: Mrs. Nakano, how about you, because, of course, your story is very unique. As you heard from other people, did you find some shared experiences?

YN: Yes. It has been a very traumatic, emotional experience for me. I came because I'm getting older, too, and I thought, "I'll never have a chance to get back here." I really wanted to come back as a sort of a closure for me. I wanted, and especially at today's services, I really brought my mother, my father, and my husband back with me. And I felt a closure when I was able to offer incense; 'cause I'm a Buddhist.

The other thing that surprised me so much was how much it has been emotional for Kenichi. I thought he was -- he was only one when we left camp and I thought, "He doesn't remember. He won't be..." But I was really touched about the fact that he is very... has touched him very emotionally, and I know the other two, the same way. And I thank them very much for coming with me as a family. This has been a marvelous family experience for me.