<Begin Segment 11>

AI: And I think you were saying in an earlier conversation, that you were among the first to go to Tule Lake?

KO: That's right. We came into Tule Lake when none of the barracks were done, and in fact there were very few barracks up. We moved into a barrack that had no partition to the top. From the top down to the level of the side of the roof. It was like one big family moving into these barracks. With no privacy at all. And no furniture, just some beds, some cots.

AI: So you had one room with some cots in it, and then that was for your parents, and all of your brothers, and...?

KO: Yeah, I think there might have been two rooms. I think they determined how many rooms you got by the size of your family. And I think, I think we had two rooms, I'm pretty sure we did. One of the oddities of the experience down there is that we ended up being, living next to a family from Kelso, Washington, and over the years, we've become fast friends and we are good friends to this day. Being raised in a situation where there were no other Japanese families, I never really had any close Japanese friends; they were all Caucasians. So this new experience for me to make Japanese friends. Although I probably didn't think too much about it, it was just something that happened.

AI: But it must have also been somewhat strange for you, coming from such a small town, into a camp where at first you were among the first people there, but eventually it got to be quite a huge place.

KO: That's right. I don't know how many people finally ended up there, but it was in the thousands, and...

AI: I think it was over 10,000 at some point.

KO: Yeah, uh huh.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.