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RP: What do you remember most about your grandparents?

SK: What do I remember most about my grandparents? Well, they did most of the babysitting for us and cooking, I remember that. While my mom and dad worked on the farm, my grandmother did most of the housekeeping and cooking for the family, my grandfather helped on the farm, and then the rest, like I said, when we got a little bit older, we helped out there. But they always seemed to be the ones that took care of us while our parents worked.

RP: And were there any particular values or lessons that you got from your grandparents or that they tried to instill in you?

SK: Well, they probably tried to instill some Japanese customs on us, I mean, I remember that, yeah. And they were pretty harsh on their punishments at that time. I mean, what they considered punishment at that time would be child abuse right now, okay. I mean, their form of punishment was, I don't know what you'd call it in the English language... let's see. If you did something bad, they usually gave you what they called yaito. That's what they used in therapy -- they give that nowadays, it's a little incense that they put on the skin and burn it. Anyway, we used to get that if we were really bad, I remember that.

RP: What did you have to do to get that kind of punishment?

SK: [Laughs] I can't remember, but pretty bad things. I mean, what they considered bad. Being overly mischievous or something like that, or hitting the younger kids or the sisters or something like that.

RP: And it was your grandparents that administered the discipline?

SK: No, it was my father.

RP: So you mentioned the yaito, was there another, any other forms of discipline that you recall?

SK: No, other than that, and that was very seldom. The only thing that I could remember is maybe being told not to do something. And I remember even, we had dogs on the farm, I remember one incident where I was on a Caterpillar and Dad was gassing the Caterpillar up, and we had dogs at that time anyway. But he told me not to walk on the tracks, but I did, and I fell off, and the dog actually bit my dad in the leg. And, see, we never really played with the dog that much, but I don't know, I guess they were pretty protective of us, of the kids, anyway. Because they were always chained up, they couldn't go anyplace. But I thought that was a pretty funny thing... well, at the time, I thought it was funny.

RP: What were some of the other customs or traditions that your grandparents or even your parents tried to share with you?

SK: As far as Japanese customs? You know, I don't remember them sharing a whole bunch of Japanese customs because my grandparents never talked to us in Japanese, they always tried to talk to us in English, even if it was broken English. My parents never talked to us in Japanese. We never had to use chopsticks when we ate, we could use fork or it was up to us what we wanted to use for utensils. So other than that, as far as the Japanese customs goes, well, they always did have New Year's, that was a big thing. Christmas is, I don't think it's considered Japanese custom, but they did have Christmas celebration. They celebrated all the American customs like Thanksgiving and things. So as far as the Japanese customs go, the only one I can remember is New Year's.

RP: What do you remember about New Year's?

SK: Well, it was always a happy time, and I remember there was a lot of drinking during that time. And all the families from the surrounding areas would get together, and it seemed like a custom where the husbands would go visit the other families, and the wives and the kids stayed home. And the husband made the rounds, or males made the rounds, I'll put it that way, the grownup males. And the females and the younger kids stayed home and entertained the people that came over. But it was a happy time. I mean, there was no bickering or anything else, everybody was happy. I remember Dad getting pretty drunk at times. [Laughs]

RP: Did he or your grandfather make sake or other alcoholic beverages on the farm?

SK: Oh, that's right, they used to make wine.

RP: Grapes?

SK: Yeah, out of grapes. We used to, after they picked the grapes, that they would have those wooden barrels, and we would stomp on him barefooted. I remember that, that's right. As far as sake, I don't believe they made that. But wine, they did.

RP: Were you allowed to drink wine at a young age?

SK: No. We never were allowed to have any alcoholic beverages.

RP: What was it like stomping on grapes?

SK: Cushy. [Laughs] I remember that thing going between your toes, yeah. It was fun, though. At five and six years old, it was our fun.

RP: To get back to your dad, what do you remember most about your father as a person?

SK: Well, he was a stern person but he was a real, you know... I don't know if you would call it, he wasn't happy-go-lucky, I mean, he would help you with whatever you wanted, if you needed help. And then if you went out for sports or anything he would be all for it, and he would encourage you to take part in sports. Most things that I remember about him was that he worked an awful lot. When we lived on a farm, he probably worked maybe twelve to fourteen hours a day when it was a busy time. So actually we didn't see too much of Dad. he would be gone early in the morning and come back late in the evening, and by then we would be, have to get ready to go to bed. But I remember he was a real hard worker, not matter what kind of work he took on, he always tried to do a good job.

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