<Begin Segment 7>

MN: Let me ask you now about some of the activities you did with your parents. Before the war, did you go to, like, the Saga Kenjinkai picnics?

KK: Yeah, we went to Saga kenjin picnics. They had it at Arroyo Seco Park, usually, and that's when I got to see other children my age or older or younger. My mother's friends, we became friends with everybody. Well, it's harder for the children to get to know the other kids that age, but then I knew a few. But I think it was mostly for older people, my mother's age, because she didn't have that many friends here, so those were the only friends that she had, the ones that came to the picnic.

MN: What kind of obento did your mother make for the picnics?

KK: Oh, they made nishime, rice balls, some people made fancy sushi and chicken, teriyaki chicken and beef. Almost like Oshogatsu food. But my mother wasn't that good of a cook. So she usually went, we were offered other people's bento that were better. [Laughs] And we really enjoyed it.

MN: What kind of games do you remember playing at the picnics?

KK: Oh, you know, they had sack race, three-legged race, and spoon with egg race. Does that sound familiar? All those different kind of races. They always had good prizes for the kids to enjoy. And we used to love to go, because they had good prizes.

MN: What kind of prizes did they give out?

KK: Oh, bags of senbei, pencils, games, small games, yo-yos, things like that. So anyway, it was fun.

MN: How about like holidays? Did your parents observe Christmas?

KK: Huh?

MN: Christmas. What was your Christmas like?

KK: Well, we got one thing. Everybody got one thing for Christmas; that was it.

MN: Is there a memorable Christmas you remember from before the war?

KK: Nothing like the Christmas we have now. It's, everything was sparse. If you got one thing, you were lucky. Because my parents weren't that rich.

MN: Let me ask you about Oshogatsu then. What did your family do for Oshogatsu?

KK: Oh, they had mochitsuki, you know, the people that lived around us, they all got together and had a mochitsuki. And we went to each other's house. But some people cooked a lot better than others. [Laughs]

MN: Did your father like to drink a lot during the holidays?

KK: No, he never drank. But, you know, my mother used to make sake. She'd get kouji and make sake, and the man that came to pick up our vegetables, he loved to drink. So my mother would always give him some. [Laughs] He made it a point to come over and have some.

[Interruption]

MN: How about like Brighton Beach? Did you go to Brighton Beach or White Point?

KK: Yeah, we used to go to White Point. Not very often, but that's where all the Japanese went for picnics, and other people had picnics there, White Point and Brighton Beach. And I know we went a few years, but I don't know too much about Brighton Beach.

MN: When you went to White Point, did your parents go into the hot springs?

KK: To the where?

MN: The hot springs at White Point? Did your parents...

KK: No, I didn't even know about it.

MN: So usually you just swam in the waters?

KK: Oh, yeah.

MN: How about like I know when you were growing up, I always hear a lot of the teenagers liked to go skating at the shrine. Did you do that?

KK: No, never went skating. I never learned to skate, I still don't know how to skate. [Laughs] I never learned to swim and I still don't know how to swim. But my two daughters, I sent them to swimming school over here in Narbonne, and they were good swimmers, so they competed in swimming and all that.

MN: Your schedule is like you're going to school every day, then you help out on the farm. Saturdays you usually went to Japanese school, and then Sundays, what did you do? Did you go to church?

KK: No, we didn't even go to church.

MN: What did you do on Sundays?

KK: Play. [Laughs] Play or help. There was no Saturday, Sunday.

MN: Let me ask you about your first driving experience.

KK: Oh, that is some experience, I'm telling you. I was learning to drive, I was doing fine, and then I went out in the street, I was coming back, and I didn't step on the brake enough. I made a turn and I landed right between the telephone poles and the guideline. I didn't have a scratch, but it scared the dickens out of the driver who was teaching me and myself. [Laughs]

MN: Now, what kind of car were you learning to drive on?

KK: A Model A. And that has a lot of pedals and things that you have to work. And when I first started out, I was going do-do-do. [Laughs] Jerk-jerk-jerk. But nowadays, it's so easy, you just make, you can just drive. But during those times, you had to use your feet and your hand. It was hard to coordinate.

MN: It's amazing that you didn't crash into anything.

KK: I didn't crash into anything, but that really scared the dickens out of me.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.