<Begin Segment 15>

MN: Okay, let's see, I have asked all my questions. I want to ask you, do you want to add anything else, anything else you remember?

SH: (No).

MN: I do want to ask you this, though. And you do have the JANM, the Japanese American National Museum, you're a docent there.

SH: No, I'm not a docent.

MN: You're not?

SH: I'm just a volunteer. (...) Whatever they want me to do, then I do. But I am not a docent.

MN: Well, you're not just a volunteer.

SH: (Yes). [Laughs]

MN: But why is it important for you to volunteer there?

SH: Why is it important? (...) I didn't realize what I was getting into when I first decided to volunteer 'cause I thought I wanted to do something to pass my time. (...) There was actually (...) three of us that started to volunteer at the same time. But since I started volunteering there, I've learned so much about the Japanese American, what people have done. 'Cause not everybody is famous where they hit L.A. Times, (...) but there's so many people, I mean artists and writers and anything, Larry Shinoda. Well, of course, my husband knew him.

[Interruption]

SH: He knew him, but this was way before (...) he became famous, (...) so now they're displaying his Corvette (...). And there's a lot of people that I never knew, (and) met a lot of very interesting people that I probably would've never met. (...) (We are) from all parts of town, and we're all different ages. And age doesn't really mean that much (...) they could be eighty or ninety, I could still converse with them. We have something in common. And all the way around, I've learned a lot, really, from volunteering. Of course, it's social too, because we all like to go out to eat, and we always say, "Well, where shall we go (for lunch)?" (...) I would've never met these people, never been exposed to a lot of these things. And I'm learning as I go along, and it's my own culture. But then, since the Isseis are gone, we have to rely on each other. (...)

MN: And I know you were very young when you were in camp. You were, I think you were there from five to --

SH: To nine. When we came out of camp I was nine.

MN: So I think you have a very different perspective of camp than some, let's say your parents. But looking back at it now, what do you think about the camp experience, what the government had done?

SH: (...) I wasn't thinking what the government (did and) why they did it. (...) I'm learning now by volunteering in the museum. But one thing (that) puzzled me, they say that United States didn't know (...) Japan was going to bomb Pearl Harbor. (...) But I said, in those days we didn't have computers, (so) how did they know that Azeka family had four kids, (names and what camp to place them in). They had to have been planning years before, so they knew something was brewing. (...) That's the part I always think, it wasn't like a surprise, "Oh, they bombed Pearl Harbor. We're at war with Japan."

[Interruption]

MN: Let me ask you, then, when redress, when talks of redress started to come out, did you think that was possible?

SH: No... what's sad about talking about the redress is the Isseis, our parents, are the ones that should have gotten it, but they're all gone. I know my father, he would've been in heaven thinking that they got something. My mother was around, but my father is the one that I feel (...) so many Isseis that never got the redress and the apology from the government. (...) It's better late than never (...).

MN: And you were a former Manzanar, Manzanar person. How do you feel about where the Manzanar camp site is going right now, with the National Park Service taking over?

SH: (...) I have no knowledge of that. I haven't researched it (...), but as far as that's concerned, I think it's probably going very (well). (...) It's on the (West) Coast, (...) I saw something on (...) Minidoka, the other day, and I don't know anything that went on in any other camp. (...) I only have an interest in Manzanar, and even then, I don't know what's all being done. But at Minidoka, the documentary that I saw (...) was very interesting too. I mean, like other camps, they went through different things and they looked different. (...) But Manzanar, I have been up in that area. I've never been to the pilgrimage, (but when) I'm going to Reno and (...) to Mammoth (...), we stopped in Manzanar. But since then, they built (...) a museum there (so) people (will) never forget what happened.

MN: Were you able to return to Manzanar with your mother and father?

SH: No, (...) we never took 'em and they never went. My father, for sure. My mother, we could've taken her, but we never did.

MN: Have you gone with your kids or grandkids?

SH: Uh-uh. I've been with friends. They never ask to go, and they never said, "Let's go," or anything like that.

[Interruption]

MN: Do you think, then, something like this is important to capture?

SH: Well, I would think so, knowing that your mother and your father were in (relocation camps). It's just the generation, I don't know, because now my daughter, she's more into Japanese culture, I guess because of my granddaughter, and they both went to Japanese school, but my, if I don't tell my son, "Aren't you ever going to Nisei Week, just to see what it's all about?" "No, that's okay." (...) And he has come one time, but he's not one that comes every year. He has -- I take that back -- he has helped three years (at) Camp Musubi. He was (...) helping out, not a counselor 'cause he didn't come every day (for) about three years (...) and he enjoyed it (...). But as far as being active (...) in the community, nothing. So I guess it's the generation that goes on, (...) he's proud he's Japanese American. But that's about it. [Laughs] I wish they would take more interest in it, but it's fading, so I don't know.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.