<Begin Segment 17>

MN: Now, you've been helping out at the annual pilgrimages. What were some of the memorable pilgrimages?

TY: You know, I think some of those were the people that have since passed away. The ones... I can't remember, Carl Yoneda and his wife, Carl was very outspoken. His wife wasn't, but she was very supportive. I remember one sad time... they're union people, so they don't believe that people should sue people. But one year, she was walking at the hotel, the hotel we stay at has these little steps that go down, and she overlooked that and so she tripped and fell and hurt herself. And at that point, I thought to myself, they should have striped it so that she could see that it was not the same level. And they never would think to sue, because they are, they believe in not doing that kind of stuff. And I thought, that's just the way they are, I would have sued. [Laughs] But that's just the way she was. But I think also, too, being who they were and who I was, and the fact that they accepted me and Carl all the time, that it was an okay kind of a thing.

MN: You know, what you did for the pilgrimages behind the scenes is sort of a thankless job, and I don't think a lot of people know everything you've done. What kept you motivated? It's such a thankless job.

TY: Well, I think I had the truck, I had the equipment, so I felt that I could do this, so why not? I wasn't thinking to rattle cages or anything, but it was something that I could do. And it might have been behind the scenes, but was still something that needed to be done. And I'm not exaggerating, but if I didn't do it then, who would have done it? Like who would have gotten the sound system, who would have got the stage, stuff like that.

MN: And I think one year you forgot something and you had to come back.

TY: Yeah. Clever me, huh?

MN: And you did all of this. And you know, Sue was the face of the Manzanar Committee, but are there other people that you think should be recognized for what they've done?

TY: I think in getting the part of Manzanar being designated a historic monument, is Rose Ochi. Because she really, and Sue together, went to Sacramento many times to voice their support for acknowledging who we were. And let's see, who else? Warren was the initial, one of the people, but he fell away after it became involved in politics, so you don't hear about him now. But he was available at the time. Well, I especially enjoyed the fact that our Mayor Bradley was one of the people that was very supportive and that we could count on him for city support and city funding for some of the expenses. And all we had to do was write to them and they would do it without a problem So of course when they started separating into little Parks Department and all that, it was a little more difficult, but other than that, it wasn't a problem. Let's see, who else? Oh, one other person I remember, she has since passed away... I can't think of... one of them used to teach ondo. Exactly.

MN: I know who you're talking about, she's a little...

TY: Yes, yes.

MN: Oh, god, I don't remember her name but she always --

TY: Hirata.

MN: She always led the ondo.

TY: Yes, yes. And the thing about it is initially we were gonna do the musubi thing one time, but after that it became a yearly thing so everybody got involved. When we first started off there was like four or five of us trying to put together that whole thing, and said, "We have to have to it for the reverends, we have to have it for the people that perform." We were making dozens of musubis. And then of course what I would do and Sue would do also was that we would cook the chicken at home and bring it so that we could use that as part of the lunch.

MN: Yeah, I know the committee people make that on Friday, all the musubi, and I think they still do that.

TY: Yes.

MN: You know, when they were talking about like wanting to make the Manzanar site into a national park, what were your thoughts on that?

TY: I didn't have any idea. I didn't think about it. I'm not that forward a thinker. So it was Sue's and Rose's push, a lot of that came about. Because they saw the need for it, and so therefore other parks, national parks, that benefited from that because of the first push. So of course they think they're the first ones, but said, "No, you guys are not the first."

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.