<Begin Segment 7>

MN: Now you also earlier talked about your father being the head carpenter at Poston, and you talked about him building the huge stage with the hanamichi. What other projects did he work on?

TY: Well, you know, almost all the camps, they had to... well, every block in our area needed other things to get done. Like, for instance, he just had like a floor and walls and windows maybe, but that's it. And so if you needed someone to help set up stuff, like build shelves under it, whatever, my father would more than willingly that kind of stuff. Or make tables or whatever, stuff that people could use. 'Cause we were gonna, say we were gonna be here the rest of our lives, so we might as well make do, you know.

MN: Did you really think that, that you were gonna be there for the rest of your lives?

TY: What do I know? I mean, here I was, three and four, right? And they said, "Well, you're gonna be here for eight years," that's a long time then. Of course, I wasn't there eight years. It was just the fact that any number of years would have been stuff I couldn't count.

MN: So it sounds like your father's skill was really in high demand?

TY: Yes. And then he started several different crews. 'Cause when we came out of camp, some of the crews in camp became his people that he worked with outside, building stuff. So he trained them to become junior carpenters, I guess, whatever, so they had a way out. They didn't have to be, like, for instance, a lot of the Japanese came out of camp and they became gardeners because that was the only thing that they could do. Well, here there were people with some skills that could do carpentry work and they were always wanted.

MN: What kind of things did your father make in your block?

TY: Well, let's go back to our building. Whenever he could get supplies and stuff, he would create Japanese-looking parts, our apartment. He made a tokunoma. 'Cause it was already separated between Apartment A, B, C and D. And Apartment D, he built this Japanese place where you could put your flowers and stuff like that. And of course, that was always something that other people wanted. So he said, "I could build you one, but I don't have the materials." So he would help if they got the materials. And so that was his big thing, to do that kind of stuff, 'cause he wanted the place to look sort of like Japan. 'Cause after camp, after we got home -- I say "home" -- we got to L.A., wherever we lived, he always built a Japanese place for your hana and your tea ceremony stuff. So we always had that. Other people, of course, lived in their American houses with their American furniture and that was it. So we were... I'm not saying we were unique, but he was so wanting to keep a little bit of Japan there, that's what he would do. I thought that was neat.

MN: Oh, I've seen photos of your sister Kimiyo, beautiful work after the war. I would love to live in a house like that with a tokunoma and ryouka, the shoji, and then you had the garden outside, it's beautiful.

TY: Yes, that was really nice. That was really nice.

MN: Well, you know, you were very young, but did your father take you along when he was working?

TY: Not really, unless it was like just a few hours away. Nothing that took any longer than that because you know kids, they don't have any kind of way to concentrate beyond that time. So he knew, said, "Now, don't take this ratty kid with you."

MN: You shared about your father creating this garden and pond in your barrack?

TY: Yes. When my youngest brother was born, he had a skin rash. And during the summer it was unbearable, but he couldn't take him to our... I don't want to call it a swimming hole, but what it was was part of a large irrigation ditch, because he couldn't watch him. So he decided, well, I'll make a pool next to the house between the two apartments. So I don't know where he got the cement, but he made the pool there, and my brother was able to swim in that thing to keep cool. 'Cause that was the only way that he'd keep the rash down.

MN: Let's see now. When Poston Camp III had to be built, what was your father's role in that?

TI: I just think he just did some modifications for people as far as I remember.

MN: Did you, were you able to go with your father when he was helping out with camp?

TI: No, that was too far away. I think the nearest camp I went to was Camp II, and that maybe two miles away. But that was like a whole new experience for me, two miles. So, yeah, it was a relatively interesting setup. I think the thing that, more importantly was... the thing I remember was the hospital. Because the hospital was just another one of those double wides, but they had wards in them. And I think the thing about it is I thought for the longest time that nurses were Japanese, because they all were, as was some of the teachers at school. There were some hakujin ladies later on, but the people that lived and worked in the camp were Japanese people that had gone to, let's say, college, but didn't graduate yet. And so they were, not the high school teachers, but they were the grammar school teachers. And to me that was an interesting kind of setup. I think even my oldest sister was a teaching assistant, 'cause I saw her in a couple of pictures where... she wasn't in any of my group, but she was with some other people. And they enjoyed her 'cause she was very good with kids. And so I think that was part of being who I became later, the fact that here was this woman who -- I guess girl, who wanted to get into that kind of stuff and was able to. Don't know if she would have been able to do it if we were still outside camp, 'cause they would have definitely required a B.A. and she didn't have that. So, yeah, it was an interesting setup.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.