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FK: Do you prefer that I call you Sally or Shimako?

SK: Shimako is fine.

FK: Shimako, why would you, is there a reason you'd rather be called Shimako rather than Sally?

SK: Well, I'll explain that to you later.

FK: Well, why don't you explain it to me now, and just let me know?

SK: Shimako Sally is my name, but after the war I changed it to, I went by Sally because it was a very American thing to do.

FK: And now you've chosen to go back to Shimako?

SK: So then, one of my classmates, Ray, Ray Lowry, told me, he says, "How come you changed your name?" And I told him, and he says, he says, "That always had such a beautiful, tinkling sound," and I said, "Oh, it did?" [Laughs] But he remembered me as Shimako since kindergarten, so...

FK: Okay. Well, tell me what you know about your parents.

SK: Okay, my parents were from Kyushu and they were, my dad was born in 1879 and my mother was born in 1889, and they probably lived about ten minutes away by car from each other. And so, anyway, my dad, my father came over in 1904 from Japan, and, of course, my mother came, my mother came over in 1915, and they were married as soon as she, they got off the dock and she, then they moved to Bainbridge Island and raised their family. But she, but they went to Alaska, thinking they might be able to do well there. But my brother was, my brother was... they had my brother about that time. And my mother said that's too dangerous of a place for him to live for him, so they moved back to Bainbridge Island and he went into strawberry farming and... strawberry and tomato farming. So then they lived over in Point White, Port Blakely area for quite a few years. And in 1929, they moved to our home in Winslow, and that's where I was born. My younger sister, who died at birth, was born there, too. And so that's my only home that I know of, on Bainbridge Island. And then, and my dad, I think, was a good farmer. He had leased, in 1941, I think he had quite a few acres, maybe close to 30 or 40 acres under berries, and he, and he did very well that year. And so my brother was, was quite pleased, and my sisters all thought, okay, now they can get away from the farm and go do their own thing. Well, of course, the war started and that ended everybody's dreams.

But, and then in February of '42, my father was taken by the FBI, they came and they took him only because they couldn't find the dynamite that my dad said he had, and he had used... the dynamite was for farming purposes, blowing up tree stumps, etcetera. And just before he left, I guess they finally found it, but they took him. And then he was sent to the immigration building in Seattle, and that was the first time I ever saw my dad behind bars. But he was sent to Missoula along with most of the, many of the islanders, and he was finally able to join us in Manzanar about three months later. But apparently, from what I gathered, was that some friend was very incensed over the fact that my dad was taken, and so they, so they were able to get a lawyer and he took, they got my dad squared away. And then when he was supposed to, when this friend said he was gonna pay the bill, the lawyer says, "No," he says, "You don't owe me anything." And so I thought that was very nice.

In camp, we went to Manzanar in '42, about, I guess we got there on April 1st, Fools Day. And, of course, everyone thought that that was the worst place anyone could be. To me, I was, because I was only nine years old, everyone, you know, I thought, "Oh, this is fun. I have all my neighbors across the street I could play with." But I, but Manzanar was a place called "Roastin', Toastin' and Dustin'." It was very warm, it was very dusty. And, and I weathered the storms, the windstorms that my dad, my dad then went to work on the farms there because that was his livelihood from before. And then my mother went to work in the kitchen. And so one of the, the one drawback on that was the fact that we never ate together as a family in the mess hall. And so I was always with my friends, and my mom and dad were doing whatever they had to do. And so that was kind of the breakup of the family in a sense.

But my, my sisters and my brother all left Manzanar when they found out that they can leave and go outside the restricted area, and they went to Chicago. And so by 1945, my mom and dad and I went to Chicago, and we stayed there for six months. My father decided he did not like Chicago, he was used to the good old Bainbridge Island weather, and so we came back. And of course that meant that my brother had to come back and help my father with the farming. And of course, that took away his livelihood in Chicago. My brother was quite, was quite intrigued with the television at that time, and he became a good repairman. And when he came to, came back to the island, he took that up again, and so he was, my brother, Tyke, was very well-known for his TV and radio work. And then finally, years later, he joined, my brother joined Mas and was one of their workers until he retired, I think. So anyway, and then, of course, my mother, my dad died in 1973 and my mother passed away in '78.

<End Segment 1> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.