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JN: When you arrived at Manzanar, how did, what was your first impression? I know you were early, you were the first group that got there.

MN: Oh, we were scared. Oh... and the, you know, boys, the workers, they were young men, so they had that mohican haircut, you know. And oh, I remember the girls were just so scared, they were all so, you know, they worked in the sun so they were so dark and here we were light, you know. [Laughs] They were scared, I think they couldn't figure out who, we're Japanese, but we're very light-complexioned and all, they couldn't figure how in the world... we were light and they were so dark, and we're still the same nationality. [Laughs] That was really fun, but -- and scary, 'cause they were all men working. And the, they had trenches, ditches, everything was just coming up when we got there. Our place was Block 3, we lived in it, everything was just coming up, so the walkways, we had to walk over a plank to get to here and there and mess hall. But being young, very, you know, towards the end, everybody was okay.

JN: When you got there, was it confusing? Did you know where you needed to go?

MN: Oh, we had to share. We shared with another family called Kojimas, and they were three girls and one boy, and we all stayed, and our family, we all had to share rooms in this small barracks. And then finally, after they got the rooms fixed -- they weren't even ready for all of us to come at one time like that, so we all shared the one small room. And they eventually moved us, then we all got one family room, about a, maybe about a week or two after that.

JN: Can you tell us some of your memories of living in Manzanar, and some good and bad memories of that time?

MN: Then we all had to find job, works, and so my oldest sister worked in the, in the mess hall. And then my sister, Kay, she helped with the kindergarten, and then I helped with the nursery, and my youngest sister Iku went down to work in the office. So everyone, except the parents, had something to do, that's how we went to work. And my job was up in, towards the end, I worked up in Block 11, so I had to walk. And some days, the sandstorm would come and we'd be covered with dust and sand, and oh, that sand used to hurt our skin and faces. But we still would go to work. And then I had, I made new friends, and when we taught school, took care of the nursery part, there was lot of, we had one Japanese family -- I don't know how they stayed down, they were from Japan -- and I remember we had one real naughty Japanese boy, little one, and no one could take care of this one. He would just dis-, interrupt the class, the little kids were playing, and finally, there was a young man, and he was real good with the little ones, especially the ones that would fight back. He just took care, and he turned out to be the nicest little boy. I could still remember that, Japan little boys were naughty. [Laughs] We had our fun, yeah.

Then I remember... I don't know whether it was that first summer or the second summer, must have been the second summer, that rec. hall was giving a picnic. And we could take the convoy, army convoy, and they would take us up the, towards the mountain, and there was a stream. And the, it was in July, I remember, when our turn came and they fixed us a lunch. And we got on the convoy came and picked us up, and we went way up in the, you know, in between the sagebrushes. And we got there, oh, it was so relaxing. But it was packed with young people because the different recreation halls came. We all had a fun, that was the first time we ever had so much fun was, you know, we all got to sing, they brought ukuleles, and we just, we had a ball then. [Laughs] It was so good to get away for a change, 'cause in Manzanar we couldn't leave the... and then a group of us would walk, and I remember Frank's father and a bunch of us, us would, from our block, we would walk all along the edges. And there would be those soldiers watching in every corner, it seemed like. But we used to walk, get our daily walking, before they had no recreation or nothing, we used to get in groups and walk, and I remember Frank's dad used to walk along with us, too.

Some of us, and then we got to learn to play piano, and then, and then in my group, the recreation group, had all UCLA boys, there was five of them that would come up, and we all took turns practicing on the piano, so we became good friends. I still, I have one friend that writes to me, tells me what's going on among the friends that was in this group, how some survived and some went on. We lost a lot of these friends, but one of 'em writes to me and tells me what's going on, they have historical, they're going in L.A., and then Manzanar got theirs, museum going, sent me pictures, and so I'm pretty well kept up with... yeah. And I'm very grateful that he still remembers to send information. I'm being, I thought I was being very blessed to have all these... because our boys, when they left, there was very few that was going to university. Well, in California, they were way ahead, and these young boys, after they graduated, they all got to go to UCLA, and they were really the nicest fellows, and we had lots of fun. I remember going to dance and then the sandstorm would come up and we would be covered with sand. [Laughs] Oh, my, but, and then they had ball games and just, toward the end, everything worked out fine.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.