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MY: And then right here [points] next to the paved road he had his garden where he raised gourds. And then right here next to the pond, right here --

RP: The garden was right there.

MY: Yes, and then we had a rabbit hutch there, and we would put the rabbits that we caught in there to cleanse them.

RP: Okay. Do you know where he got the lotus or the water lilies?

MY: We ordered them through catalogs.

RP: Sears Roebuck?

MY: Sears Roebuck was our best friend. [Laughs]

RP: Even, even water lilies?

MY: I don't know if he got the water lilies through Sears Roebuck, but a lot of the things that he got had to be... no, he ordered that through mail. I'm pretty sure he did. But he had a lot of connections. He was a very entrepreneurial person. [Laughs]

RP: Were there, was there any other, besides the garden that you mention, was there any other landscaping around that barrack that you recall, other than lawn?

MY: Well, he had, I don't know, maybe small reeds, nothing that grew up too high. He wanted us to be able to see the carp. And we used to feed the carp every day in the afternoon.

RP: And what did you feed 'em?

MY: Earthworms.

RP: And where would you get them?

MY: We would go north and then it was right next to the place where we butchered the rabbits, and so the entrails and the rabbit, what do you call it, the fur, what do you, the pelt whatever, we would always take a shovel and we would bury it, and so all around that area there'd be earthworms galore. [Laughs] And we would go there and just turn, one turn of the spade and we'd have a couple of dozen worms, and we'd pick them up, put 'em in a can, bring 'em back and feed it to the carp.

KP: Richard, can you ask about cleansing the rabbits, what that was for and how it worked?

RP: Yeah, talking about --

MY: The rabbits?

RP: -- cleansing the rabbits, what was the motivation?

MY: My father lived in Texas for quite a while, so I'm sure that's where he learned -- that's, I assume that's where he learned; maybe he learned in Japan -- there's certain months of the year, especially in the summer months, that you're not supposed to eat wild rabbits and you're supposed to, quote, "cleanse them" even in the winter months. You capture them and then you keep them and then you feed them the proper foods, like carrots, lettuce, things like that. [Laughs] And then minimum of two weeks, maybe three weeks, and then my father would then declare safe to eat. 'Cause he said you would, you never knew what they had been eating in the wild. But I think, I really should've done research on this to find out what months they were, but it seemed pretty much to be the summer months that perhaps they would harbor whatever harmful bacteria or whatever, and so we'd cleanse them. And we just knew, I was able to ascertain by just looking at them, there are certain physical characteristics, which ones we had for one week, two weeks, three weeks. And then when they reached three or four weeks, then the rabbit had to watch out. They were going to be the next one to be taken. [Laughs]

RP: So you actually, so you ate them, you cooked 'em up in your barrack room?

MY: Yes. This was after a year that we had been there. My father found out that rabbits were, quote, available, and he made friends with the person in the watch, guard tower, and told him what he wanted to do, showed the rabbit trap and everything. And then we came back, and next, the following week we went and asked the guard and he said it was okay, so we just went out, and it wasn't just my father alone, I went and my younger brother. But he watched us. I mean, he had his field glasses trained on us, watched us as we went, and we tried to put it in areas where he could see us put the traps. And then we'd set it up and come back. This was early in the morning, and come back, then late in the afternoon we would go to check, just see if we had any rabbits caught. And once we caught a cottontail, and I looked at it, I says, "Not enough for us to eat," 'cause they're really small. That one we kept as a pet 'til the very end. Never butchered that one. [Laughs] But the jackrabbits, we did eat. They were bigger, could feed a family of six.

RP: And so what did you cook, cook the rabbits...

MY: My father was able to get oil, some sort of vegetable oil, and we had, like, cracker crumbs, and we had canned milk 'cause we didn't have too much fresh food, and we'd dip it in the milk and the cracker crumbs, and put it in the hot oil, and it wasn't deep fried, but it was pan fried. And then as my mother was cooking it, I would go to the mess hall and take a big bowl, and I told 'em we're eating at home so they would give us the rice, and if the vegetables looked appealing I'd go back with another little bowl and get vegetables just for us. And the cooks, or the servers in the mess hall, they were very, very amenable to allowing us to eat at home as, whatever we wanted to eat. And sometimes when my younger brothers weren't feeling too well we would take a plate and get the food so they could eat at home, the younger two, when they weren't feeling too well.

RP: So did you have a hot plate that you used to...

MY: Yes, we had a hot plate, and I'm sure that the, that went round, round, round, because it took a long time to pan fry the rabbits. [Laughs] Yeah.

RP: How'd they taste?

MY: Very good, just like chicken. And when I go to restaurants in the Los Angeles area, there aren't too many that will serve rabbit. Well, people just aren't accustomed to it, but I've eaten it at least three or four times since I've left camp, and I still enjoy it.

RP: And how often would you, would you actually have a rabbit dinner?

MY: In the winter months, more often. Summer, we didn't, maybe once every three to four weeks. Yeah. And my mother wasn't too keen on doing it 'cause the house would get, I mean the apartment would get very, very warm when you're pan frying inside. We had no air conditioning, and remember, when we first moved in we just had the tarpaper, nothing else.

RP: Do you remember the linoleum being...

MY: Yeah, we had to move everything. Whatever we had on the floor, we had to pack up and put it out on top of the grass or the sand or whatever. That was a pain in the neck.

RP: Do you remember what color linoleum you had on the floor?

MY: It was an ugly maroon.

RP: The same one we have in our barracks. [Laughs]

MY: Yes. Such progress.

RP: We really have come nowhere.

MY: And then when they put the plasterboards up it wasn't as bad, because we could just move the things away from the walls. But I sort of liked the two by fours 'cause we could put little knickknacks on there, then all of a sudden you didn't have the little shelves anymore. 'Cause I used to put my toothbrush and cup right there, but the plasterboard was a wonderful addition to keep the heat out, or to keep the cold out in the winter months 'cause it's very cold.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.