<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So in hearing you talk about not only George but your parents, when it comes to Christianity and Japanese language, in the surrounding communities, your family was very important to lots of these surrounding communities.

JU: Yeah, I think so, and of course there was competition, of course. As even Father (Daisuke Kitagawa), the internees who were Christian tend to be typed as "America-lovers," and other communities were regarded as if they weren't, especially if they weren't organized at all, the animosities began between those, especially in the camps. And they got very angry.

TI: And so you're saying from the, more the (Christians) versus (...) the Buddhists, is that the kind of friction you're talking about?

JU: That's the friction that really finally surfaced in the camps, especially because of the make up, practically, (of) the fight. And the "No-No Boys," of course, exasperated, I mean, exacerbated the feeling. I mean, because they didn't know. Those are crazy questions to be asked of the entire internment camp. But anyway, that was... the similar thing occurs in the city, in Denver, especially. Because if one group got more power, the Buddhist Institute had to form, were forced to form, Sunday schools or Dharma schools as they called them later. Had to form youth groups because the Christians were doing it. And that kind of, that kind of competition, I would call it, naturally emerged. And so, got the Buddhists organized.

TI: Oh, so interesting. Because, I guess, what you're referring to, in Japan, they don't have Sunday services at Buddhist temples.

JU: Exactly.

TI: And there's nothing like Sunday school.

JU: And the same was happening.

TI: And initially in the United States, it was similar. They probably didn't do that.

JU: No.

TI: But then when the Christians had these Sunday services, Sunday school classes and the Buddhists saw people going to the Christian churches for that, almost in a defensive posture, they felt they needed to do the same thing, or competitive posture --

JU: That's right.

TI: -- to survive and thrive.

JU: And in a sense, it's very good because it brought both, brought more people into community with themselves, really. In a sense, it was very good in a sense, that they had something to fight about.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.