<Begin Segment 14>

SY: What do you remember about going to Puyallup?

MN: Well, we got on a bus in the University District, and we went, and we went through the gate. And there was, it looked like hundreds of little black heads. And it seemed like everybody would come to the gate to welcome the newcomers. So they were hollering and yelling and waving their arms and welcoming us. And I'd never seen so many Japanese in my whole life, in one spot. And I was wondering, "My goodness, how am I going to get to know these people?" Because they all look alike. [Laughs]

SY: They looked like you did. [Laughs]

MN: Yeah, they looked like I did 'cause I was used to seeing groups with blond hair and red hair and brown hair and black hair, but here was all black hair for the first time.

SY: So how was it getting to know Japanese Americans and Japanese for the first time in your life?

MN: Well, I had known some in high school, there were, in the whole school, Lincoln High School, there were sixteen Japanese, I think. And then at college, there were, and they had a Japanese organization called Fuyokai, something. And so it isn't that I didn't know some Japanese or hadn't had friendship with some, but it was just that, having so many at one time. And then of course we were busy getting our apartment, and stuffing our mattresses with straw and...

SY: So you had an apartment?

MN: Well, it wasn't exactly apartment. It was a little room that was at one time the Frederick & Nelson concession. Frederick & Nelson was written across the top.

SY: Where, this was in Puyallup?

MN: This was in Puyallup. It was under the grandstand.

SY: So you were busy getting that...?

MN: Then, little by little, there was a couple, three families that kinda hung around with us, and so we had a little nucleus of friends. Naturally, so then that way, I started to recognize people and recognize their names.

SY: Did you...?

MN: Made some close friends.

SY: So do you still have those friendships, even after you left Puyallup? Did you keep those friendships?

MN: Yeah. And one of the boys married my sister, Connie. (...) So we're related now.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.