Densho Digital Archive
Friends of Manzanar Collection
Title: Chikaye Sande Azeka Hashimoto Interview
Narrator: Chikaye Sande Azeka Hashimoto
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: January 10, 2012
Densho ID: denshovh-hchikaye-01-0004

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MN: So on the day that you had to leave for camp, you went to a gathering point. Do you remember where this gathering point was?

SH: (Nishi Hongwanji Church).

MN: What memories do you have of, like, gathering and going to camp?

SH: Well, I don't remember anything other than we were at (Union Station). We all had to get on a train, and I saw soldiers standing around, guarding (...) everybody to get on the train. I don't remember the train ride, what happened. The shades were down 'cause the people said that they pulled the shades down (...). But then eventually, at the end of the train, we all had to get on buses (and) they took us to Manzanar. And I remember it was a really, really windy day, and all the sagebrushes and (...) were tumbling, and I thought, "Where in the world are we?" (...)

MN: How old were you when you entered Manzanar?

SH: About five.

MN: And your family went straight to Manzanar, did not go to assembly --

SH: No, we didn't go to Santa Anita or anywhere. We just went straight.

MN: Do you remember what block you lived in?

SH: I lived in Block 20.

MN: And when you were in Manzanar, who were your playmates?

SH: The ones that I played with every day were the Miyatake kids. There were Tabo Miyatake and Minnie and myself. (...) The three of us were together all the time.

MN: And the, this Miyatake is the well-known photographer, Toyo Miyatake's kids?

SH: Yes.

MN: You shared a story about, the stories you made up about the Indian arrowheads with Tabo. Can you share that?

SH: [Laughs] Well, Tabo and I were the same age, but somehow I guess I was able to convince him that I knew a little bit more than he did. And I knew there were Indians around 'cause there was arrowheads all over (...). There (were) fields of trees and there weren't no buildings (...). Anyway, when you're going through there you see a lot of arrowheads, and (...) the arrowheads came from Indians (...). But I wasn't fascinated so much about the arrowheads. I was fascinated because Miyatakes used to have a lot of friends out of camp, and they used to send all kind of goodies to them, and then (...) they would give it to me (...). So I used to tell Tabo and Minnie, "Oh yeah, Indians love sweets," (...), "You know what? We should just have a place where they could come and get it." (...) I designated this particular tree (...), so then they would come and leave it there. (...) But at night, when it started getting dark, then I would be the Indian and I would go over there and get it, and that's why I was getting extra sweets. (...)

MN: Did Tabo ever find that out?

SH: No, I don't think so. And I'm the only one that knew. Minnie was younger, so she didn't put two and two together, but Tabo, he never knew and I never told him. [Laughs]

MN: Now, when you were in Manzanar, did you have a lot of toys to play with?

SH: I don't remember any toys that I played with. If anything, I went over to the Miyatakes', and they had the toys and I would play with them over there. But I myself, in my own barrack, (...) I don't remember having any toys.

MN: So what kind of games did you play?

SH: We played outside a lot, with mud and whatever we had. (...) We'd just pretend type of thing. And at night we would all get under blankets and we'd make a tent, and we would tell each other obake stories, and then we would scream (...). [Laughs] I don't know who the storyteller was (...). But everything was just play, play, play. We'd play until it's time for us to go, we would hear that mess hall bell ringing (...) and then we were the last ones to get there, so my mom used to get after us and say, "You know, if you don't get here in time, you're not gonna have anything to eat (...). But we (would) rather play than to go and eat (...). And I can't remember exactly what kind of toys we had to play with (...). I had a cat, so I played with my cat (...).

MN: Where did this cat come from?

SH: (...) I really don't know. So like, somebody like Mrs. Suzuki probably brought a cat (to camp). Maybe they came from the teachers. (...) Because they get to go out of camp. All the teachers and faculty were all hakujins, so maybe they brought it in. 'Cause everybody wonders, where did everything come from, the seeds for us to plant our vegetables and our flowers, unless we sent for it through catalogs. But somebody had to bring something in to start it, and then after that everybody had it.

MN: You mentioned the Miyatakes and you're very good friends with them, and you have a lot of photos from camp.

SH: So I guess the Miyatakes either gave it to us or my folks purchased it from them, because even after we came out of camp they were right there on First Street, and I used to go over to the studio.

MN: And I noticed some of your photos are colorized.

SH: Mrs. Miyatake used to do it, and she used to do it all by hand. She'd just sit there on her little (stool with) an easel, and she would be doing it all by hand like oil painting. That's how it started. I can still smell that oil that, every time you go into the back area she'll be working on it. Then later on it became in the film, but (...) she was doing it by hand.

MN: Now, you also mentioned how you were one of the last ones to get into the mess hall 'cause you were playing all day.

SH: The three of us were playing all the time.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright &copy; 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.