<Begin Segment 2>

RP: Have you returned to the area that your, that your mother and father came from? Wakayama?

KY: Uh-huh. Well, I've been there because in about 1932 or three my folks decided that we should go back to Japan and get an education in Japan. And so she took us to Japan and we lived at my uncle's house. And she asked my uncle if she would, if he would care for the children. There was four kids in my family. The youngest one was too young to be left with the, with the uncle. So she didn't plan on leaving her in Japan. But the three oldest children, including myself, she had intended to leave us there. But my uncle, being a smart guy that he was, said, "No. I think children should stay with their parents. You take them back to the United States, 'cause I'm not gonna care for them." I think he was pretty smart... and I was fortunate that he didn't want to keep us in Japan and live in Japan. 'Cause I hated it.

RP: So you...

KY: I didn't like it.

RP: How long were you there for?

KY: Well, less than a year. Maybe six months or so. And so I came back and I was in the, was in the third grade at that time.

RP: Yeah, what didn't you like about Japan?

KY: Well, the thing that I didn't like was the sanitary conditions. You know, we had to, we had an outhouse, you know, for a toilet. And to bathe, they had an outside bathing shack. And so everything was outside. You brushed your teeth outside, you know, just outside the, of the kitchen. We had to brush our teeth out there and everything was kind of crude compared to America. We're not, we weren't rich by any sense of the word but at least we had the modern facilities, bathroom and all the things necessary. And so compared to Japan, the United States was a much better place to live in. I didn't like it for that reason. And I don't think the rest of the kids really liked it either. And besides, my uncle had four kids himself. They were a little bit older than we were but one of, one of the boys was my age, same age as my... same age as me, but.... that's seven kids that he would have to take care of. And I think he thought about that and that's why he told my, mother, "No, you'd better take her back to Japan, to America." So, that's what my mother did. She took us to Japan and brought us back.

RP: So she took you there and then came back to the United States?

KY: Uh-huh.

RP: And then came back and then brought you back. There were two trips?

KY: No, he took, my mother took all those kids to Japan and we lived with my uncle. And then when it came down to going back to America, my mother had... there was a plan to stay in Japan permanently. And she decided, "Well then I'll take them back to America," because my uncle wouldn't have us.

RP: Did you go to school at all during the time that you were there?

KY: No, no, I didn't go to school.

RP: How were you treated by the other kids? Your uncles kids as well as other Japanese kids?

KY: Oh, we got along fine, yeah.

RP: How about language?

KY: Well, you know, you learn to the language... kids are funny, they can learn to speak the language right away because you play together and you have to converse with each other. It wasn't long before we could speak Japanese just as easily you know. And see, it's the same as if an American went to Europe or, or whatever, wherever, and then would have maybe relatives, and they would ask them to have their child stay with them. And then, and then if they wanted an education they would probably want them to send them back to America to learn English instead of being in Europe or wherever, wherever they went. Same with the Japanese people. They wanted the kids to learn the Japanese language so that's the reason why a lot of 'em sent them to Japan to relatives or something. Those people were called Kibeis. Have you heard of the term before? Yeah, those are the kids that were raised in Japan, were called Kibeis. And ironically, after they came back and joined their parents in America, life wasn't that easy for them. Because they had outgrown their parents and were so used to being kids from Japan. You know what I mean? You know, so, in a way it was good and in a way it wasn't. And I think mostly it wasn't so good because the association between the parents and the children gets lost if you don't grow up with the parents. And so things don't work out so well that way. So that's why we came back here and life was better for us anyway. It was for me.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.