Densho Digital Archive
Preserving California's Japantowns Collection
Title: David Matsuoka Interview
Narrator: David Matsuoka
Interviewers: Jill Shiraki (primary); Tom Ikeda (secondary)
Location: Sacramento, California
Date: December 10, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-mdavid-01-0022

<Begin Segment 22>

JS: Okay, so we're gonna continue. And we were talking about after camp, returning to Walnut Grove. And it was, your family was the first family to come back, and then about a week later, the rest of the people from Walnut Grove started to come back.

DM: Town people.

JS: Uh-huh. And what do you remember about that time? Did your father go back to work right away?

DM: No, not right away.

JS: Okay.

DM: What can I remember? I don't think he had all the equipment yet, but he was helping with the people that's coming back.

JS: Okay.

DM: And they furnished the army beds and army blankets in the Japanese school, and that's where a lot of residents stayed there.

JS: So did he help set that up?

DM: Well, not set it up, but, yeah, more or less help 'em out over there.

JS: Okay. Do you remember who helped set that up, you know, temporary...

DM: No, I don't.

JS: ...place to live.

DM: But I know he's the one that said... in Japanese school, they don't, no bathroom, so he told the dad, people that wanted to take a bath, they could take it after a certain, certain time. So we had to be out of our bathroom by seven, seven-thirty and then other people could use it. Late as ten o'clock, they'd use the bath.

JS: So people stayed at the Japanese school, and people stayed at the Buddhist church, is that right?

DM: I don't know about Buddhist church.

JS: You don't remember that?

DM: You heard about that? I don't, I'm not sure. Because I only know it was Japanese school there.

JS: Okay, yeah, I'm not sure. How about at the Methodist church? Did anyone stay there?

DM: I have no...

JS: You don't remember that.

DM: The only reason, Japanese school is right behind our house, see.

JS: Right. And do you remember any of the businesses reopening in town, any of the former Japanese businesses?

DM: Who opened up?

JS: Uh-huh.

DM: Little by little, but that grocery store, Hayashi, and the candy store, the Miyazaki, and barber shop, naturally barber shop. And most of the boarding house I think was there, but lot of other places, they never come back.

JS: No one's described the Miyazaki candy store. Can you describe the candy store and what they sold there?

DM: They have a fountain, so they have sundaes, ice cream, or whatever. We used to buy cones there. And, yeah, that's about it, candies. But they have snow cones there, too, but another little dinky places has snow cones, they gave you a lot more ice and more juice, so that's where we used to go. That's Asai. The Miyazakis give you smaller, little bit juice for the same price, so we used to go to, on Asai, the lady used to give us a lot of ice and lot of juice.

JS: Okay, so that was at the Asai market?

DM: No, that was just, she was just selling snow cones there.

JS: Oh. Just, that's all?

DM: That's all. It was not a boarding house or anything, she was just, just had that... I don't know. She was a real generous lady.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.