<Begin Segment 15>

JA: Tell me about the physical things that people did to improve the place. You mentioned that you fixed the stalls...

HT: Yes.

JA: ...that you put drywall in the house. What about the outside, the outside environment?

HT: Well, for number one, the Japanese people appreciate nature. I guess that's their nature, I guess. They love nature. They love gardens, they love trees. So in between rows of barracks, we eventually got seeds, and we made lawns, we made gardens out in -- let's face it, Manzanar was a barren desert, no grass growing. So eventually, the people got together and put in lawns and gardens...

[Interruption]

HT: Well, lawns went up and gardens were put in. In some of the blocks they even put in lakes, small lakes, and put bridges, small bridges. They tried to make it look homey. Rather than seeing nothing but sand, it's so nice to see greenery. And then as for, as for the farmers, you know, they started raising watermelon, cantaloupe. Oh, the watermelon that grew, that they grew in Manzanar, it is so sweet. I can still taste that. We'd go to the, we go to the cafeteria, and the first thing we'd ask, as for the kids anyway, did they have watermelon? They said, we'd ask, "Is this ours or where?" And if it's ours, it doesn't stay there for very long, and cantaloupe's the same thing. And eventually as time went on, every camp was raising their own agricultural things. So Manzanar was sent to Poston, Poston was sent to Manzanar and so forth, I guess.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2002 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.