<Begin Segment 12>

DG: What was the food like?

ES: Oh, Manzanar wasn't very great. It just, it was just really the basics, cereal... I forget what else. A lot of hash, stuff like that. Not... there was quite a few that used to get ill or, you know, have runs and stuff like that. But in Idaho it was better. Everything was... I mean, we enjoyed it a little more. I mean, it was cleaner, it felt cleaner. And even then, I think we used to eat together there, too, not as a family, I mean it was... so that's the part that hurt the most, I think, we didn't eat with our family very much. We weren't able to talk with them all the time. If they were there, you didn't communicate that much. So when we came back to the island after the war, I thought, kinda... we lost that family feeling, until years later when we all had to do a lotta things together. Like we used to celebrate my folks' anniversary and stuff, then we came a little more together. And then we had our holidays together, we try to keep the family together. Those were... it was starting to get better. We started to become a little more like a family and try to keep together a little better. So, I think a lot of it, during the war, we did lose a lot of the family, family ties. 'Cause you could imagine right before the war, we... that's all we had was our own family. We played together because we couldn't afford to go to our friend's place to play, so we used to just play among ourselves. You know, like kick the can and throw the ball over the roof and say, "I caught it," and then you run around, and those kind of things. And we used to make, what do you call it, these tin cans, we used to make impression in there and put our foot in there and try to walk. Anything that was, didn't cost money that we could just play with there. So a lot of the social thing was within our own family, really.

But one thing I remember is I really wanted -- I don't know why I was so hung up on the piano. I really wanted to take piano lesson. And then this Japanese hall where we used to have the Japanese movies, they had a piano, and I used to kind of thing, I thought, "Oh, gosh, I wish I could take piano lessons." I know we couldn't afford it, but I used to really want to take, take piano. I don't know why. It just was kind of like an obsession to me, to want to learn the piano. So maybe I had some talent for piano, I don't know. [Laughs] But my mother wanted me to take violin. I said, "No, I don't want to take violin. I hate the violin. I'd rather take clarinet." So, I, I think they were willing to buy me a violin at one time, but I... that's one instrument I did not want to play. [Laughs] But the piano, I would, if they got a piano. And then I remember my girlfriend got one. I think this, was this after the war? I don't remember if it was after the war. But I, I used to envy them. I thought, "Gosh, they were lucky they got a piano." But, anyway, and then I remember my brother used to play the guitar, and I, I used to enjoy that. I guess I enjoyed music. I come, I come to realize now that... 'cause he, one brother really enjoyed playing the guitar and the harmonica. He used to enjoy that and I used to enjoy listening. 'Cause he used to, they used to all sleep upstairs and I slept downstairs. And our upstairs house is just, just an attic, and all the beds were lined up there and they all slept up there. And I slept downstairs with, with my parents. But I could... I remember he used to be practicing up there.

DG: What kind of music did he play?

ES: Well, I, I don't know what kind he used to play. Oh, more country, country music. But he must have had a thing for music, too, because otherwise he, I don't think he would have... none of my other brothers ever played, but he did. So evidently he must have enjoyed music also.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.