<Begin Segment 6>

Mary I: And when you were growing up, who were your friends, who did you hang around with, who were you close to?

Mitsu I: They were all Japanese, all Japanese, our neighbors.

Mary I: So how would you have met them?

Mitsu I: At school. Well, they, we were neighbors, so we went to school together. Then I used to go to judo class, we took judo, and then we had some friends there.

Mary I: And what else did you do for fun? What did kids do then, when they were, when you had free time?

Mitsu I: We used to, on Sundays we went to the Buddhist Church at Mission, and we used to play baseball on the street. And then at school we played soccer and lacrosse.

Mary I: What about winter sports like skating or toboggan?

Mitsu I: No, there was nothing like that, not in Mission, no.

Mary I: What about in the summer? Swimming, fishing?

Mitsu I: No, one time I, we went swimming with Mr. Tsuji, who is now Reverend Tsuji, he took us swimming in a small creek not far from our house. And I nearly drowned, and he jumped in there and got me out.

Mary I: Because you didn't know how to swim, right?

Mitsu I: No. [Laughs]

Mary I: Did you have any hobbies?

Mitsu I: No, in those days, all we did was play baseball. Oh, we used to play a lot of marbles, we used to have marbles in those days. That's about all. Too busy farming.

Mary I: Did you get a sense that your family was doing well on the farm, or was it difficult?

Mitsu I: No, we didn't think about that at all. Our farm had an apple orchard, and we had a lot of fruits. We had cherries, apples, pears, and I think we were about the only Japanese farmer that had an apple orchard.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2005 Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and Densho. All Rights Reserved.