<Begin Segment 38>

DG: One of the letters was to a Kimi about asking her help in taking care of a girl who had an illegitimate child.

NS: Well, Kimi was YW secretary in San Francisco, and she worked in the YWCA and in either Chicago or someplace in the Middle West. And I was in contact with her, so I probably wrote to her at that time.

DG: Now, the reason I bring this up is because you allude to the fact that illegitimacy made it impossible for this girl to be in camp or with other Japanese.

NS: Uh-huh.

DG: So, could you explain a little bit more about that?

NS: Well, the Japanese -- I mean, being in camp was in -- everybody was in such close quarters that there was a lot of gossiping going around. And, of course, idle tongues are not too helpful in a good many ways. And I'm sure that illegitimacy was not a comfortable subject for a girl to live through. And, I probably felt compassion for her.

DG: There wasn't a lot of problems like that around?

NS: I don't think so.

DG: What were the worst problems that you can remember?

NS: Partly because in the spring there were -- I think the army came by and got some of the eligible young men to volunteer for the army, the 442nd, and they left. And also the Kibei all went to Tule Lake and they left. So a lot of the young people were gone from camp, the young boys.

<End Segment 38> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.