<Begin Segment 25>

[This transcript has been extensively edited by the narrator.]

SY: So if you were to describe yourself, if you had to describe yourself in one word, would be education, as an educator?

GN: Well, actually I've been involved in sales, too. Because teaching, you've got to really be good (in sales) to teach. That's why I say you have to have different modalities. To be an effective teacher you have to have visual things to see. And I know how long you can talk to keep an audience. Talking heads, that's not going to keep people's attention. That's bunk, it really is. You should be able to have people work things in so they can show things (in your Densho interviews).

SY: Well, we're hoping to show some of your things now, but just as a final little question about your life --

GN: How would I sum it up? Well, okay. I think I'm a very curious person. I enjoy learning, so I've been a continuous learner. The biggest joy in my life has been our family, rearing our children and seeing them develop. They're all good people, they have good values, they help other people.

SY: So how do you think the experience of having gone through what you went through in going to camp, how has that affected your life?

GN: I find among most of my friends that have been in camp, there are just a few exceptions. There has been no real bitterness, they just say, "Shikata ga nai," you've got to do the best we can. Gaman. I only know one person that I can say has dwelt on it, and it's been kind of destructive to his life. So I think that's it's a group of people, like Frank Chuman who is an attorney, who was one of my daughter's mentors, he lived on the other end of the barrack (in Manzanar). He was the hospital administrator (at Manzanar) and he wrote The Bamboo People. It's kind of a landmark book on the Japanese Americans and immigration. He said, "We're the bamboo people. They can push us and push us, we bend but we don't break." And I find that you try to think positively and you try to live positively and you try to live by the Golden Rule and you help others. You'll have a pretty fulfilled life. And there's always something to do. [Laughs] I'm old now, so I don't want another cause. They all kind of blend. You saw the signs (in our) front (yard). Oil watch, the city council voted (for drilling oil in the hills even though it's a wildlife preserve). They gave Yosh an honor for getting the Congressional Gold Medal and Yosh prefaced his remarks by, "We're not here to protest today." [Laughs]

SY: So you're still an activist. And just one last word about your brother, I'm just curious because he had such an incredible career, right? Was he able to enjoy the fruits of all that?

GN: My brother was a very upbeat person. He's very funny. And like Ron Kasumi said, "You didn't cross Larry Shinoda. You'd hear about it." He was a very explosive personality. But he was very creative ever since he was very young. In fact, we had a lot of good times together. Our imaginary world. When we were little, we lived in this rickety (house). I told my little granddaughter, I was trying to explain the house to her. I said, "We grew up in this crooked little house on top of a hill." The floors were crooked and sloped, and we could run our (toy) cars down the slope of the kitchen (floor). But right behind the swinging door going from the kitchen to the dining room, we had a huge chalkboard. My uncles gave that to us for Christmas. We'd divide that chalkboard in half, I'd draw on one half, he'd draw on the other half. Sometimes we combined it and we did something together. But we had so much fun at that chalkboard. That's one thing we just hated to leave (even when we went to Manzanar), even when we were that age. We loved that chalkboard, the two of us. And I still have chalk for my grandchildren. They can draw on the sidewalks, all over our patio, anyplace they want to draw.

SY: So you had creativity there.

GN: My brother was involved in drag racing and he liked speed. But he liked color. I've always liked the color yellow. He liked the color yellow (too). We both liked color. He was a color consultant for Nippon Paints. They make all the enameled goods, baked enamel to come out of Japan. Nippon Paint (makes the colors for) Japanese cars. My brother was the color coordinator for the interior and for the baked enamel (exteriors) of the cars. And like my son said at my brother's memorial service, it was one of the hugest memorial services. People came to pay tribute to him from all over. The place was just packed. My son said, "We're a family of artists, but Uncle Larry has the biggest art show in the world. On every highway and byway (in the world) there's one of Uncle Larry's creative masterpieces, from two wheelers to eighteen wheelers."

SY: It's so nice that you're so proud of him, too. So I think we're going to end now, Grace. Thank you so much.

[Interruption]

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.