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RP: You told me when we talked last that your father was kind of very pro-American in his outlook. The way he...

MW: Yes, he was.

RP: How, in what ways?

MW: Well, when we went to camp, you had an option of going back to Japan. And, as you know, many of the older generation did go back. I remember, I remember my dad saying, "I don't care if America wins or loses the war, I want my children brought up in America." 'Cause he says there's just no place like America. He liked, he liked the philosophy of Americans. And so that's, that's why we stayed.

RP: Tell us more about his wholesale business. Did he have, did he deal directly with Japan in terms of...

MW: Right, but then he delivered... he had a wholesale grocery store and like he'd, he would deliver to El Monte, which is really close now but back then it took a whole day when he had to deliver to El Monte and West Covina and that way. Because it was nothing but farmlands and then I don't think there was any, the roads weren't smooth so to speak.

RP: And did he do the deliveries himself or did he have...

MW: I think he had a, eventually he got a delivery person because he had in the end when we, he had to close up because of the war, he had twenty-six employees. And I thought that was amazing for a man that started with nothing, and couldn't speak English. And, so he was quite successful. And I found an old dictionary all tattered and torn and I gave it to my granddaughter. But every night I used to see him studying by this little desk we had at the house and he would look up the words and, and ask me what does this mean or whatever. And so little by little he learned English. Not like you and I are speaking but he, he did enough. And then there was Mr. Good, he was the owner of a, on Spring Street here, he owned a warehouse. And so when the war came, everybody, we only took one suitcase, one or two suitcase at the most, but he said, "Mr. Motowaki, bring your things here and I'll take care of it for you." So we left like my mom's Singer sewing machine and the big items there. And, but some of the things I think they left with the church. I'm sure you, you've heard all this from everybody. Yeah, the same thing that all the other Japanese encountered. Yeah, so, we were very lucky. When we came back we had a sewing machine. Yeah, uh-huh. And let's see, what else?

RP: Tell us about your father as a person. How did you see him as a young kid?

MW: My dad? He was very progressive for a Japanese American.

RP: For a Nisei?

MW: Very, very progressive. Because, you know like he... of course he had a business so interacted with Caucasians and different ethnicities. And they, they would even used to come to our house I remember. They'd bring their Four Roses, you know. [Laughs] My mom would say, "Ooh, we don't drink." But you know we're Japanese, and she says, "Don't say anything. Just be appreciative." So we had a bunch of Four Roses. Anyway, yeah. And let's see, what else?

RP: Was he, was he...

MW: Oh religious?

RP: How was he with you, with, with the kids?

MW: Oh, very, very good.

RP: Did you feel close to your dad?

MW: I did. I'm fortunate in that respect. Yes, he'd come from behind and like he'd hit my knees and so I'd fall and he'd say a lot of funny things. He had, had a great, great sense of humor. And so I'm indebted to him for that. [Laughs] Yeah. And they were very religious. The typical Japanese you know, the words shikata ga nai, and they went through countless tragedies. I can't imagine. So, there was two other children. One was, I think about twelve and he died of dysentery. And another -- because this was pre-penicillin -- and then there was an eight-year-old girl and she was killed in a car... these two, they were... my mom and she went someplace and they were waiting for the bus. And on the street corner these two cars collided and it jumped the curb and it slammed her against the brick wall and she didn't, when they took her to the hospital, my mom didn't know how to sign her name. So they had to wait for my dad and they didn't have cell phones or anything. So anyway, she bled to death and, and she died. So that, they just have gone through so much and yet they were very religious. And they would always say, "Oh, it's God's will." And they just went on with life. And I thought wow, that's pretty good. That's admirable because I can't imagine losing a child. And so, right, so my, as far as my background, before the war up to there it was good memories. I have no, we played with the local kids in the area and we did things together.

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