<Begin Segment 14>

DC: So how about when you were, you know, even smaller, when you were growing up when you were a little boy in Los Angeles? Who were your friends?

CM: Well, we go to school so your school are your friends.

DC: Did you have any Japanese American friends?

CM: Yeah, we had a few, but they lived in the far distance so we weren't able to visit them often, once or twice a year.

DC: Did you go to Japanese school on Saturdays?

CM: Yes, right.

DC: So you were going to Japanese school from a young age?

CM: Yes, right, right. We used to go one hour, five days a week.

DC: Wow. You went to Japanese school an hour a day on weekdays?

CM: Right, right, right. Right after school they'd have a bus that picked you up and we used to go to class.

DC: Really, you and your siblings? Who went?

MM: When he was young.

CM: Yeah, when I was a young kid, schoolkid. My brother and I used to... three of us, yeah, just the three of us. Ann was still too young for that time

DC: So you have two brothers, and you and one sister, is that right?

CM: Yes.

DC: What are your brothers and sister's names?

CM: Frank Takeo Matsubara. He passed away... and George Haruki Matsubara, and those are the two brothers.

DC: So Frank and George?

CM: Yes.

DC: Or Frank and Ricky?

MM: Rikio was his...

CM: That's his nickname.

DC: Okay, so Ricky and George are the same person, got it. And then you have a sister too?

CM: Yes... Ann Shibata.

DC: Okay. So are you the oldest?

CM: No I'm the third.

DC: You're number three?

CH: Yes. That's why I was no count in the family, you have to be a number one in the family.

DC: So that's Frank?

CM: Yes.

DC: So how did people treat you when you were growing up in Los Angeles? How did non-Japanese people treat you?

CM: Gosh, no difference. We were treated just like any others, and...

DC: What kind of neighborhood did you live in?

CM: Well, it was in Los Angeles, it was in between Los Angeles and Hollywood there... it was in Los Angeles in early 1920s. Well, we had, gosh, combination of all neighborhood. There was black, Filipinos and whites. There was no other Oriental but mostly black and whites neighborhood when we on Beverly boulevard there. And we were all interested in sports so we'd gather all the neighborhood, we gathered and we have all kinds of sport events and... that kid time, well, I think that was the best time, I think.

DC: Did you feel connected to your Japanese heritage when you were growing up?

CM: Well, we learned their tradition. New Year's time is the biggest event in Japanese year. We have Japanese food and there's every food that you taste has a meaning behind that food, that's why you take it. Like seaweed, yorokobu, that mean's happiness, so you take it, eat. What else? Every food that you think of there's a meaning behind it, and she'll make it, Mother would make it for us and give us the meaning and be thankful that food.

DC: Did you have other relatives from Japan living near you?

CM: No, there were no relatives. We had an uncle, but he passed away and he had a wife and kids but we... they moved to Nebraska and so the distance there was just, our relationship faded away because of the distance. And she married for the second time and had, and then she had other kids from that second husband, so it kind of faded out.

DC: So were you pretty much the only Japanese American family in your town?

CM: In our family group?

DC: Were you the only family in town that was Japanese?

CM: Gosh, in Los Angeles that's the main, big group of Japanese in there.

DC: So you were part of a big Japanese community?

CM: Well, my dad associated with the Japanese, joined the Japanese club or a Japanese bank or this and that, had some kind of interest in that way.

DC: Where was the Japanese school, how far away was it?

CM: It was... it was in Hollywood near Sunset Boulevard. So it would be at least five, six miles away.

DC: So you were all grown up already when the war started?

CM: Oh, yes.

DC: Were you still living in southern California at that time?

CM: Yes, in Glendale, California.

DC: Okay.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.