<Begin Segment 7>
RP: Let's see, okay... so for... did you ever attend movies in Florin? Were there Japanese movies that were shown in the Buddhist church?
KN: In the summertime we had movie outside.
RP: Outside?
KN: Yeah. Put a lot of chairs down and then the screen on the wall. Oh, we had a lot of Japanese movie in the summer. Yeah, I liked Japanese movie. Some of the samurai ones was real good. Did you ever watch samurai movie?
RP: Uh-huh.
KN: Yeah, they're good. Some are made real good.
RP: There, other people have told us that sometimes there would be a person that would speak all the parts...
KN: I know, we had that. Or before the talkies came. They called it benshi and they'd bring a thing. And silent movie and then he does all the talking. Yeah, we had a lot of that when we were kids. That's all we had. They called it benshi.
RP: How is that spelled?
KN: B-E-N-S-H-I. That's a narrator.
RP: The narrator, okay. That's what you are right now, you're a narrator.
KN: [Laughs]
RP: So you had a, you had a lot of activities centered around the community.
KN: Yeah.
RP: How about picnics, were there ever picnics at...
KN: Yeah, once a year we had the picnic. Go out in the, way out in the country some hay field someplace. Put a fence around it and we have a picnic.
RP: Was that for all the families in Florin?
KN: Yeah, uh-huh. Anybody could come.
RP: And what do you remember about... what else do you remember about the picnics?
KN: Oh, we had a race, three-legged race. And just running race. Yeah, it was fun. That's all there was in the summertime, picnics with three-legged, three-legged races and you know, jump rope race. I was good at that jump rope. You jump rope from one end to the other, just go fast.
RP: And so during the summers you worked on the farm most of the time?
KN: [Nods]
RP: Did the family ever take a, trips outside the area?
KN: Not that I remember.
RP: Did you have a car?
KN: Yeah, we had a car. But you had to, you had to ship the strawberry out to the association shed so you have to have a car.
RP: And how often would your father take his strawberries to the shed?
KN: Every day.
RP: Every day?
KN: We had to pick every day. It was hard. Picking strawberry's really hard. Your back hurts. But what else is there? If the family don't pick strawberry who's gonna pick the strawberries?
RP: But then you got that nice bath waiting for you at the end of the day.
KN: Oh, I don't know about that. [Laughs] I'm old and tired.
RP: So when, when is the harvest season? Is it usually all year round or when would be the peak season for picking?
KN: Well, we had strawberry from early spring 'til sometime late... even we have some in September and October. And then in the fall we cut the weeds and you know... there's a lot of work to be done.
RP: How about, how about fertilizer on the strawberries?
KN: Yeah, we, we fertilize in November.
RP: And what did you use? Did you use manures?
KN: No, the company sells fertilizer. I don't know. It's a mixture or something and then you just put it between the, between the aisle.
RP: In November?
KN: Yeah, when the strawberry season is over we put the fertilizer. And they come out, the strawberry comes out real green and stuff in the spring. So you have to have fertilizer.
<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.