<Begin Segment 15>

RP: Let's talk about school a little bit, because in addition to all these other things you were doing you also had to go to school here in camp.

MY: School was a very pleasant place, lots of friends, and teachers were very, very positive. They were there because they wanted to be there, except for the Nisei teachers, but all the, quote, outside teachers, they wanted to be there. We knew about one internee that was here voluntarily, Ralph Lazo. I remember seeing him in -- since he was already in high school I didn't dare speak to him; I was only in elementary school -- I kept on thinking, "He doesn't look Japanese, but he must be Japanese. Why else would he choose to be here?" But he just fit right in, and he was a cheerleader. I don't know if he was student body president, but he was just a real active young man, well liked and a true leader, and he turned out to be the same in adult life. I think he was like a counselor, worked with, in a school situation. And the notable teachers, Mr. Frizzell, the music teacher, a lot of the musical productions I would see here in the auditorium.

RP: Like, which ones? Do you recall any specific ones that you saw here?

MY: If you name a couple of 'em I'll tell you.

RP: "Oklahoma"?

MY: Yes, yes, yes. I remember that one. And I remember "Oklahoma" because they used to play that music all the time at the outdoor theater. You know the outdoor movie theater that's between two, where they had the real big outdoor screen like they had for drive-in movies, and every Friday and Saturday they would show the movies. And they would play "Oklahoma" music every single time. [Laughs]

RP: Do you remember sitting on benches at some point out in the outdoor theater?

MY: They did have benches, but we would take a blanket and we'd pile the sand to make our own little chair, and put the blanket on top of it and just sit there. I would take my younger brother with me. Not Kenji; he was too young. But my brother Aki, we would go together and take the blanket. It was very pleasant in the summer months, very cool.

RP: How about other events that you might've attended here in this auditorium?

MY: We were in junior high. I don't know if we used, I think some, for the gym classes for the girls we would come in here every once in a while. The boys had the use of it more than the girls. And I remember we did have a library, but we had periods just like, we had a homeroom, we had English, science... I can't remember. But it was pretty much patterned against what a school would be like on the outside. I remember an art class, Mrs. Christiansen. She was a wonderful art teacher. And Mr. Greenly, the speech teacher, who was blind.

RP: You remember seeing him with his dog?

MY: Yes, yes, he used to bring it. And I loved dogs and I wanted to pet it, but he said no, we couldn't interact with the dog. The dog would just stay with him. And the dog was much brighter than us, 'cause we wanted to show him out the door. He said, "No, the dog knows which way to go." [Laughs] The dog never left, led him astray. Yes, but he was a very inspirational teacher because all of us understood, with such a great handicap, how positive he was in working with us.

RP: Was school challenging for you here at Manzanar?

MY: Not particularly. I... challenging as, I think we had adequate supplies. I had nothing to, I couldn't compare it with anything because when I came here I was in the fourth grade, and then when I left I had just finished the -- oh, I skipped one grade, I remember that. And so when I left, I finished the eighth grade and was going into the ninth grade, and then when I found out that they're gonna close Manzanar I decided I had to leave before November because I had to register as a ninth grader in September. I remember that much. But challenge, biggest challenge was getting school and back, especially when there was a windstorm or if it was raining or snowing, 'cause it was a long walk.

RP: Were you, you mentioned, again, before camp you were involved in ondo dances and some traditional Japanese cultural practices. Did that carry over into camp, where there, there were ondo events in camp?

MY: I don't remember any, and if there were any I just wasn't aware of it. I do remember we had churches. There was a Japanese school. My father registered me in the Japanese school.

RP: Here in Manzanar?

MY: I was a Japanese school dropout. [Laughs]

RP: And you're proud of it.

MY: No, it was just...

RP: Why did you drop out?

MY: He was very traditional in his presentation. Everything was rote, and if I didn't understand something he couldn't explain it to me in English. And so I just decided it wasn't for me, and then my father said that if I didn't want to go, that I didn't have to go. He didn't force me to go.

RP: Do you recall where the language school was located in camp?

MY: It wasn't too far from our block. I couldn't use that as an excuse for dropping out. It's just, I just told my father it was too hard and it wasn't interesting.

RP: And when did you attend it? After...

MY: After...

RP: Regular school.

MY: What we would call American school. 'Cause I attended Japanese school before the war every single day after, quote, American school, and it was from four to five every, every day. The luckier ones, the ones I considered lucky, attended only on Saturdays for half a day.

RP: So who in the, in your extended family would you speak Japanese to before you came to Manzanar?

MY: I didn't speak Japanese to my grandmother. I spoke to her in English and she would answer me in Japanese. She did not speak -- and then Ojiisan understood enough English, I would speak to him in English. He understood me and he would speak to me in Japanese. It worked out. And Obaasan was the same thing; they all understood the other language, but they spoke in their own language and we knew enough to understand. No is no in Japanese and in English. [Laughs]

RP: Most important word, yeah. Did your father, was he political at all in Manzanar?

MY: Well, if he was, he didn't share it with me. I do know that he was, because of his background, offered a chance to be a Japanese language teacher at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and so he went. And this -- to, for an interview -- and he was accepted, but he decided not to become a teacher. He just felt that the war was almost over, and then he said he didn't like the methods that he would be required to use in teaching Japanese to these English speaking... I think it was the navy. Yeah, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, I remember that because he went there, got on a Greyhound bus and he came back. And I know my mother said, "Where is Oklahoma?" [Laughs] And that was a sign to my father, maybe he wasn't going to go to Oklahoma, 'cause she was set on coming back to Los Angeles. Because by then I think they sort of understood it was a losing battle for Japan, and no matter what happened, they knew California was their home.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.