<Begin Segment 9>
RP: So what did you do after you graduated high school?
KN: I went to work for the State Department of Motor Vehicles.
RP: And how did you get that job?
KN: Took a test. To get a state job you have to take a test.
RP: And that was 1938, '39, somewhere around there?
KN: Yeah. about 1940, '41. Just before we, just before we got into camp I was working at the time.
RP: And you worked in Sacramento?
KN: Yeah. Commuted to Sacramento, department of motor vehicles, driver's license bureau is where I went. Boy, I was good at numbers. Everything you did, all numbers. You had to type all the driver's license number, engine number, everything, all number, number, number. Crazy, we type in numbers. [Laughs]
RP: How did you get to Sacramento and back? Did you have a car to drive?
KN: Yeah, we had a car. We drove to Sacramento.
RP: And so how did you learn how to drive?
KN: I guess my brother or my sister I guess. They were all my older brothers and sisters. They were driving so they were willing to teach us. It wasn't that hard to learn you know. I can't believe that I learned so fast. [Laughs] Now, huh, it's kind of hard to teach young kids to drive 'cause the traffic is so bad.
RP: Yeah, there wasn't much traffic in those days.
KN: Yeah. Just an old country road. We drove back and forth on country road.
RP: So were there other Japanese Americans that were hired at the Department of Motor Vehicles?
KN: Oh, yeah. A lot of Japanese women were working for Department of Motor Vehicles, other department, finance, personnel, all kinds of state jobs. A lot of Japanese were working.
RP: So what happened when the war came along?
KN: Huh?
RP: When the war broke out, what happened to those workers?
KN: Oh, we all got fired.
RP: Including yourself?
KN: Yeah. They fired us all 'cause we're gonna go into concentration camp. They can't work so we all got laid off.
RP: Laid off or fired?
KN: Well it's same thing. We all got laid off.
RP: How do you feel about that? Do you feel that was fair?
KN: Well, there's nothing... we're at war. There's nothing we could do. We just took it in stride and just go on with our life. And then we got in to Utah from camp and then I got a job for the Utah state as a stenographer, right away. Then, they never heard of Japanese girl being able to take dictation, all that so oh they were glad to hire me. I got a job right away.
RP: So did you do stenography at the Department of Motor Vehicles too?
KN: Yeah, I did, uh-huh. That's how I started. I started as a typist and just before we went into camp I would be, I became a stenographer. But then... not much, just couple a months. 'Cause we had to go into camp.
RP: You also worked on a farm, the Bill Sharp farm? Do you remember that?
KN: We're neighbors. We helped to harvest his crop. Bill Sharp was the next door neighbor when we lived.
RP: And was that... that was quince? What type of fruit was it?
KN: Oh, whatever he had. Grapes, quinces... we helped him harvest quinces too.
<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.