<Begin Segment 18>

RP: Shig, do you recall what your father did in camp to pass the time, besides baseball?

SK: Yes, well I don't know how he learned it but he learned to fix refrigeration units and worked at the hospital taking care of the refrigeration units. And that much I knew. I think he was saying something about earning sixteen dollars a month or something like that. I think that's what he told us. And Mom, let's see, I think she, I think Mom worked at the store, the, where they sold the clothing and the other things.

RP: Canteen?

SK: Yes.

RP: There was a dry goods store and there was a canteen.

SK: I'm trying to remember if it was... I thought there was a clothing or canteen.

RP: It might have been dry goods.

SK: It was kind of a variety store. The one that she worked at. And that was across the firebreak from 27 on the south side I think.

RP: Right, 21 was the dry goods store.

SK: I don't know what, what block it was but it was going south I think.

RP: Yeah, that would have been just south.

SK: Okay. She did work in there, that's right, for...

RP: Did you visit the canteen at all to buy soda or ice cream?

SK: No.

RP: No? Never did?

SK: I don't remember going there to buy anything.

RP: How about your grandparents? How did they pass the time at Manzanar?

SK: God, I think they kind of just socialized with the other older people. I don't remember them work... I know that they didn't work. I think they had kind of a meeting hall or something in the, in the block someplace that, where they used to meet and just socialize. Aside from that, I don't remember. They never did say too much about what they did in camp.

RP: Now you, you grew up on a, in sort of an isolated farm environment in Florin. And suddenly you're thrust into this camp, one square mile, ten thousand Japanese Americans, and how did you take to that?

SK: I don't know. I thought, well, like I said, I had fun in camp. It didn't impact me one way or another. It had a lot of people around. And so everything as far as I was concerned was...

RP: Your world was...

SK: Yeah, a new experience and everything.

RP: Were there any adults or older people that you kind of sort of gravitated to or, or aroused your curiosity or...

SK: Hmm, not that I could remember. I really didn't.

RP: Now your parents were Nisei.

SK: Yes.

RP: I mean, they were kind of young adults. And did you ever see any type of expression of anger or bitterness towards, to the country of their birth for having created a situation where they no longer were on their farm? They were in a, in a camp. Their rights had been taken away.

SK: I don't remember anything like that but I remember that Dad tried to volunteer for the army when we got into camp. But they didn't take him because he had five kids already. Yeah. So, he couldn't have been that, yeah, he couldn't have been that old. I mean, he was probably in his late twenties, someplace in that neighborhood. But, like I said, he had, they, they said, "No, you're 4-F because you're married and have a lot of kids." If there were any bitterness of that situation, it didn't come out until later on. I mean, but he was never what you call real bitter about it. He just didn't think it was right. That's the thing. Because he was a United States citizen. So he didn't feel like he should have been put in a camp for something that he had nothing to do with. And I think that's about the extent of his feelings.

RP: How about school at Manzanar? You mentioned to me when we talked last time, you said you didn't learn a whole lot but you made a lot of friends.

SK: Yeah. Well, that's the thing, I don't remember learning a whole bunch at school. But, like that, that picture I brought in, if that was one class, that's about forty kids in a class and at first grade or second grade class, I mean, that poor teacher didn't have too much time to give individual attention and I probably needed a whole bunch of it at that time. So I don't remember learning a whole bunch there, I really don't. I think it was probably a one-room environment but I don't know.

RP: How long did you take judo in camp?

SK: Like I said, I don't think I took it very long. I remember that, I don't know why, but I remember that it was kind of mandatory for each kid to take judo. It wasn't something that we had the option. But whether we kept it up or not I know that I didn't take it for very long.

RP: Do you, do you remember anything about the riot or the incident that occurred towards the end of 1942 in the camp? There was a confrontation at the front gate between military police and internees.

SK: Yeah, no, I don't remember anything about that, only what my parents have told us. But they weren't specific as to what caused the riot or anything else. They all, they just said that there was a riot and let it go at that. So, we didn't know anything about it.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.