<Begin Segment 10>

SY: And as far as you know there were quite a few other Japanese Americans living in Denver?

RN: Oh, yeah, there was...

SY: Community?

RN: Yeah.

SY: So it had its own little area?

RN: I think it was downtown. At least most of my friends lived kind of right in downtown. It was great places, they had... it was probably more like Main Street is. They had a lot of movie houses and penny arcades. That's probably before your time, penny arcades. Lot of burlesque places which I couldn't go in because I was a little kid. So it was kind of down in, wasn't probably the best part of town.

SY: But that's where they happened to settle, these Japanese American families?

RN: Yeah.

SY: And how long were you there, roughly?

RN: A year and a half, two years.

SY: Oh, so some time, and so you ended up going to school there, too?

RN: Yeah.

SY: So you met friends there?

RN: Yeah. I didn't keep in touch with them, but...

SY: No one that was, that you knew in camp?

RN: No.

SY: These were all new?

RN: I think most of them were already there. They had left L.A., I'm almost sure they were like my uncle.

SY: And so do you remember the school you went to?

RN: No, I don't remember. I don't remember a whole lot except learning to ride a bicycle and stuff like that.

SY: So you were able to afford a bicycle by then, huh?

RN: Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, my uncle was pretty well-off because his business was going really well.

SY: And did he have a family?

RN: Yeah, he had two daughters.

SY: They were older than you?

RN: Yeah, they were high school. They were in high school.

SY: And your little brother by then was still pretty small.

RN: Yeah.

SY: So you probably... do you remember interacting with him when you were young?

RN: Not a whole lot, 'cause he was, he was very sickly. So, yeah, he spent a lot of time in bed. So I didn't play around with him too much.

SY: Do you attribute that to camp, being born in camp?

RN: Could be. Because it wasn't like he could go see a doctor anytime.

SY: But his health improved?

RN: Oh, he's fine now.

SY: But as a child, a young boy, he was very sickly?

RN: Yeah.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.