<Begin Segment 7>

RP: We'll talk about Bob in just in a few minutes here. I just wanted to go over a few more sort of prewar questions here. You attended Japanese language school, you said you spoke Japanese at home so you pretty well, knew the language.

DT: Yes, I think... I don't know... let's see now it must have been about second or third grade our minister, all the parents wanted to have Japanese school so the minister and his wife taught the Japanese school and it was all on Saturdays. Buddhist church was every afternoon but Saturdays we went, well, I didn't learn anything. [Laughs] I think I was pretty good maybe first or second grade because it was easy. After that, but Mama and Papa used to give us, I can't remember, ten or fifteen cents for lunch money and you could buy anything you want. Boy, that was a big thing and that's what we went to the grocery store and bought whatever we wanted and took it to Japanese school. And I should be ashamed because our minister's daughter was my best friend but I didn't do so good. I can't write, I guess if I saw the character I could write, but my sister, she wrote to Japan all the time after the war and she spoke very nicely but I was too Americanized I guess. [Laughs]

RP: It was more important to eat lunch and mingle with your friends.

DT: That's right, that's right, and play, we had all these different plays we never had toys so you cut up sticks and you make little puddle and then just play sticks you know. And if you hit somebody's stick and you try to make that one go down, that was kind of things we played, 'cause none of us had toys and that was okay.

RP: Did you have any dolls growing up?

DT: Not that I know of 'cause my, you know, my mom couldn't afford it and nobody else, I didn't see anybody else, but I think maybe before the war my brother -- no, that was after the war. My brother-in-law bought me a teddy bear and everybody called me "teddy bear" but it was after the war, not before. But we made little like lumber, there was a little thing that pops out, I don't know what you call it... anyway those are the things we use for money and put five cents and we'd play store or we'd play hopscotch or we got ball 'cause we used to throw it over the barn and run across and try to hit someone. We made our own thing but we had marbles, oh, we played marbles for keeps. [Laughs]

RP: So most of your girlfriends were Japanese American. You had very little contact with Caucasians until you got into the integrated school. How did you get to school? Were you bused to school?

DT: Oh, we had to walk. The buses didn't run our way, they went around different places but I don't know why they didn't run on Florin Perkins Road 'cause there were two families that had kids, so I guess not enough people so we had to walk. And there was one man that went to work and if we went out to the road in time because our road, our driveway was one-fourth mile you know, that's a long drive. So we had to time it so we'd get out there before he did and we'd be sure to get a ride. And then there was another man that went to work about certain time well, if we were little away from his driveway, he would never pick us up. But if we were beyond his driveway he would pick us up. So we hurriedly got there so we got a ride and then on rainy days is the only day my dad took us. And it was about five miles I guess, four or five miles to school but there was... it wasn't scary 'cause you didn't see anything. It was nothing like kidnapping or anything like that. And then my girlfriend and I we might meet and then on coming home we'd go through this ranch and they had red, dark red pomegranates and we'd steal them and then eat them. And then there was swimming pool that was deserted and someone had a raft there and we would play on the raft. If we got... if we drowned my parents wouldn't even know where to look for us because those are things we played on the way home. Then there was a walnut, black walnut tree and we didn't have black walnuts and then the cars would run over the black walnuts and then then we had a rock and I think a brick or something and we'd break that and we'd eat the black walnuts on the way home. [Laughs] And then we'd go to my girlfriend's and they had leftover rice that was burnt, I don't know why her mother always burned her rice but we would go in there and eat a snack of burnt rice. [Laughs]

RP: Did your father ship his produce, the berries and the grapes, did he bring his produce to Sacramento or did somebody come and pick up his produce? Do you know how he worked that out?

DT: He was a member of some kind of association I guess and he would take it to the association and they would sell the strawberries and then the grapes was some other association. So he never took it to town.

RP: He never had to haul it?

DT: No.

RP: Okay, what kind of grapes did he grow?

DT: Tokay.

RP: And were those, those are --

DT: Table grapes, and then after he was through with table grapes then we would haul it to the winery. But that was to Elk Grove but we... great big huge boxes. we'd have to pick it, just strip it and then he would take it to winery.

RP: How did those grapes and strawberries taste to you as a kid?

DT: We had so much of it that it didn't even phase us, and the strawberries we had at that time were very, very tasty, it was Oregon plum or something, you can't get that now because it doesn't last too long. And then we'd pick it when it's nice and ripe so, but when you have it so much you just don't even think about it. And grapes too we had that but the strawberries you buy in stores you can't compare it. But they don't sell grapes now I don't think in stores, I haven't seen it. And then my dad had Thompson seedless and boy was that ever good.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.