<Begin Segment 5>

HM: What was Bainbridge like when you were living here on the island? Did you interact with the Caucasian community or did you interact more with the Japanese community?

YT: Well, when we were on the island, we couldn't afford going out because I got two sisters and two brothers to take care of so I couldn't join any club. Although for a short time, I was a member of the Japanese women's... you know, what do you call it?

HM: Fujinkai or something?

YT: Fujinkai, or something, so I was a member of that for a short while, but I had no time for other activities like scouts and things that the other kids got to do.

HM: Now did your younger brothers and sisters, were they more involved in...

YT: Pardon me?

HM: Were your younger brothers and sisters more involved with the other people...

YT: Yeah, they could go wherever they wanted, they could stay after school and watch football, whereas I'd have to go home to take care of my kid sisters. So I think my dad was more lenient with them than with me, so they got to do what they wanted to do. But then there wasn't no organization like the kids have now, so they didn't go swimming lessons and soccer and all that kind of stuff.

HM: Did your family visit many Japanese families here on the island?

YT: On the island? The Wakayama ken used to get together so I remember going to their meetings and then they would have refreshments and that kind of thing and you know, a regular get-together and my dad enjoyed those.

HM: Do you remember any picnics or Japanese movies?

YT: Yes, I remember the Bainbridge picnics and that's another one. Mrs. Tsujimoto knew I didn't have a mother, I couldn't make sushi and the bentos that other people made, so she would make the bento and her daughter would bring it across on the boat and we'd always have something. She was really that close to us. She made the bento for us every picnic I remember. And she's the one that made sure that when school started, we had new clothes, you know, she couldn't buy us a whole set, but she made sure we had some new clothes, because we couldn't go shopping or anything of the sort, so she was a mother to me, for sure. Big loss when she was gone. And Mrs. Chihara was another one that was close to me.

HM: Did you do like mochitsuki and things?

YT: Yes, I remember going. I think we used to go to Chiharas to mochitsuki and I don't know where else, but we always had some.

HM: Did you go to the Japanese Baptist church?

YT: Well, we used to go to Hirakawas', and I've been to the Seattle Baptist Church, but then after my mother died, my dad, well, there was a lot of Episcopalians in Seattle, the Japanese bunch that Mr. Taniguchi, those that knew my dad, they encouraged him to have my mother baptized as Episcopalian, So she was baptized before she died, so then after she died, they told my dad that we should be all baptized. So one day, he says, "We're going to Seattle and we're going to church." Well, we didn't know what we were getting into. We went to church and they met us at the ferry, took us to church and baptized us at St. Peter's Episcopal in Seattle and we're members of it since.

HM: When did your family move to the island and from where?

YT: When did we move? I think it was shortly after Hideaki was born, so that was 1924, '23, in there, '24, '25? I understand my dad said that Hideaki had pneumonia or something when we lived in Seattle, and the doctor advised them to take Hideaki where there's fresh air, so that's when we moved to Bainbridge. I could see the house, but I don't know what you'd call it now because the streets have all ready changed. But we weren't farmers. We lived in a big house, and our neighbors were Matsushitas, and I don't know if you remember, but there was Kinoshitas, and the Sakais weren't too far away. So we used to play with them.

HM: Were there any other Bainbridge families that you remember from your childhood?

YT: Let me see. Well, the Wakayama bunch... they always got together, so the Nishinakas were Wakayama I think, the Chihara, Kinos, so we got together with them, I think, annually, and at the picnics.

HM: What did you do at the picnics, and what kind of food was eaten and were the games played?

YT: Well, at the picnic, the food, it was mostly Japanese style, because it was Isseis at the time. But we got that from Mrs. Tsujimoto, so we had all the goodies that everybody else was eating. And we used to join in and play games, you know, whatever they were playing.

HM: Did they play Japanese games?

YT: I don't remember any Japanese games. Even now, is there a Japanese game?

HM: Yeah, they do have some Japanese picnic type games.

YT: Well, we must have joined them at the time.

HM: Let's see. After you got back from the camp, your sisters and brothers were older, so how did that change your position in the family and your responsibilities in the family?

YT: Well, when I got back from Salt Lake City, the kids were already in high school, I'm sure they were both, the youngest ones were in high school, so I continued sewing in the factory, and we made it. Hideaki was still in the service, Archie used to work for the Kobas during the summer months when he went to college, and my dad never worked.

HM: I remember going to your house, was it on Sixteenth?

YT: Eighteenth. Well, you came to the house?

HM: Yes, I overstayed my stay at your house.

YT: [Laughs] I don't think so.

HM: You lived next door to Yosh?

YT: Nakagawas. And we're still good friends.

HM: Now did you keep in touch with many of the people who you met in camp?

YT: I did, for a long time.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.