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SY: So there was a period of time between Pearl Harbor and the time that you actually... what was the next step in terms of your being sent to...

RN: I don't remember much except for packing. I remember my mom made these canvas bags. And I remember my dad with a brush putting our name on it. So I remember that. I don't remember getting on the bus, but I remember the bus ride. I really remember there was a caravan of maybe six buses, and that must have been 395 heading toward Manzanar. And stopping at a gas station, and the bus driver or the soldiers having kind of an argument with the owner, and they wouldn't let us use the bathrooms. So the caravan had to go to another place. I remember that. And I remember arriving at Manzanar, it was almost twilight, and seeing the dust, the wind blowing, 'cause it was really windy day and pulling into camp. By that time it had gotten dark. I remember filling our mattresses with straw and going to the barracks were compartmentalized into, I don't know, what is it? Ten by six or whatever. And we had to share it with another family. I remember that my mother was totally, she just hated that. And so we shared one compartment in the barracks for a couple days and then we got our kind of permanent assignment. We were in Block 8 which was right next to -- you want this kind of detail?

SY: Yes, absolutely.

RN: Okay. [Laughs] Which was right near the... they called it the canteen, which was the, you could buy things. And so I lived right near there in Block 8.

SY: When all of this was happening, the bus ride and all that, do you remember how you felt? Was it fear?

RN: You know, that part of it I didn't feel as fearful or anxious. It was with my friends right after Pearl Harbor and a lot of that. Once we were on the buses and there were all these other JAs or Japanese around -- once again, this is a child's view of it -- and I think my folks, my mom was very good about kind of not freaking out too much. She only freaked out when we had to stay with this other family. And so I think because of my parents' attitude, I didn't get too anxious on the trip.

SY: So when you, I'm just curious, when your mother, what is your freaking out as far as you could see as a child, your mother was doing? Was it just her saying to you and your father...

RN: Yeah, she just kept saying over and over, "I don't like this. They shouldn't put us in with people we don't know." So, yeah, and then later we moved to Block 36. Oh, an early memory, another memory which I think I put in my film, was you had communal bathrooms. And I went out to go to the bathroom and then came back out, and all the barracks looked alike, right? So I was totally lost. You need some kind of features to... and so I just sat there crying and then my dad came out and took me in. And then he salvaged a piece of wood and carved our names and cut it in the shape of a finger pointing and put that up so I knew where our barracks was. But yeah, I think that's... at least there I remember that, and then the other, in Block 36, I remember doing my chores and that was, the heating was all kerosene stoves. And so they had big kerosene tanks, two blocks could use that. So I'd have to go with these bottles and get the kerosene. I remember long waits in the line for breakfast, lunch, dinner, which later wasn't that bad if you're a kid 'cause you had your friends and we'd run around 'til we could go in.

SY: When you're at that age you're really kind of in between being attached to your parents and then sort of striking out on your own.

RN: I don't... maybe I wasn't old enough to do that, but I was... I think that's why as a child my camp experience wasn't, quote, "that bad." Because my dad and my mom were very good about kind of keeping things normal. They let me collect bugs or scorpions, kind of allowed me to do kid stuff as much as we could. And then later I made friends on our block, so we'd play marbles or kick the can or hide and go seek and all of that, so it wasn't bad.

SY: You were an only child, basically, at that point. So did they... then they were able to protect you more, maybe?

RN: Could be, yeah.

SY: But you made friends quickly?

RN: Yeah. There were plenty of kids to play with.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.