<Begin Segment 4>

RP: So you came back when you were almost twelve.

MN: Eleven. About eleven years old.

RP: And you came back with a strong grasp of the Japanese language.

MN: Yeah. Okay. So, when we came back we have to enroll in a junior high school or grammar school. It was grammar... let's see, yeah, kindergarten through sixth grade is called grammar school or elementary school. So we had to enroll in that. Trouble was we knew our math. But language, English, we had to go to summer school and more or less get caught up in that. We, we did that for two summers. Yeah. Finally... but still you're not, your grade is not, not up to par. You're still about half a semester behind.

Off Camera: Can I ask something about when you were going to school in Japan, when you went to school there?

MN: Yeah.

Off Camera: Did you learn anything about what was... I mean, Japan was going through a big military buildup at that time.

MN: Okay, at that time when I was there well, you know between China and Japan was... and Japan invaded China in 1937. And they went through like Nanking, China. They conquered that place and all this. Shanghai and all that. And Japanese troops, "Banzai, banzai." The local town there, they light up the chouchin. Chouchin, you know chouchin? Thing with the candle. They parade with it. They call that chouchin. And all the people just parade the whole town, celebrate the conquer in China. So then military wise, while I was there, right before we came back, Aunt and Uncle's son was in Manchuria with the Japanese army. So I met him when he came back for the leave from Manchuria, on a, on like a furlough. That's when I met him. And I think his rank was corporal. And that's, that's all I know but he's a Japanese soldier. I think after the Pearl Harbor, United States went in with the war with Japan I think he, I don't know, maybe he got sent back to Manchuria.

RP: You don't, you don't know what happened to him?

MN: No. And I met my father's older brother's son. He was in Manchuria too, as a Japanese soldier. But at that time I think the Russians, he was under Russian prisoner, you know, because Russia declared war on Japan just about the end. And that's when he was a Russian prisoner of war. So they had, I think they had a hard time.

RP: Just to go back a little bit, when your father came to America, where did he originally settle?

MN: I think it was... well, he came through Seattle. Seattle. And he settled in the, California. He had a... San Pedro, California, I think he had a little, what they call a, they make kamaboko. You know what kamaboko is?

RP: No.

MN: It's, they grind up fish and make a fish cake. They call that kamaboko. And he had a little factory in San Pedro, California.

RP: And he worked there or did he own it?

MN: He owned it. But at that time the most of the ingredient they used is barracuda fish. Okay. And they used to net that, commercially. But the fish and game they, no more. They cut that out. You cannot net, net it, you have to fish for it, see. And that's when he couldn't afford to.

RP: He did, he did quite a few things looking for something to wrap a career around.

MN: Yeah. From there he went, he went to, I think he came up towards Sacramento way. If I remember from Mom talked, they worked in a some kind of olive farm or orchard or something or asparagus farm, in, near Walnut Grove, Walnut Grove.

RP: Not too far from here.

MN: Little bit off of San Fran -- I mean Sacramento, Sacramento there. That's where they, that's where they met, see.

RP: Your parents...

MN: Yeah.

RP: And, your mother's name again?

MN: My mother's name is Asano, is first name.

RP: Okay.

MN: And her first husband, he passed away, but his name was Takata.

RP: Takata, okay.

MN: That's when my half-brother and half-sister come in.

RP: Okay.

MN: Same mother, different father.

RP: And was, and she was married in Japan to this gentleman, Takata?

MN: Takata, yes.

RP: And they had two...

MN: And they came over, yeah.

RP: They came over here.

MN: Yeah.

RP: Mr. Takata.

MN: Yeah, right.

RP: Okay. And the names of the two kids, your half-brother and half-sister?

MN: Yeah, they had two kids.

RP: What are their names?

MN: Oh, his name is Jim Minoru Takata.

RP: Okay. And your...

MN: Sister is, half-sister named Donna Shizuka.

RP: Shizuka, okay. And where did, where did they settle when they came to the United States?

MN: I guess they were with the parents. Yeah... oh no, this, like Mom sent him to Japan too. Yeah. So like my sister and the half-sister and half-brother, I think they spend about five years in Japan. Yeah. But, you know, funny thing, when my mom took us there and the teacher -- the half-brother, half-sister went too -- he was still there. So he had us too. And so I think when she took us she bought a stuffed turtle or stuffed tortoise and a stuffed crocodile, about like this, had it stuffed, and she present it to this school when she took us.

RP: Really.

MN: Yeah. So I remember, I remember that. Yeah, I asked her why you were taking this. She said, "Well, the, your sister and brother was in same school and it's the same teacher so I got to present this to the teacher so he could keep it in the classroom."

RP: That's really neat.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.