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RP: And where did your, you said that your father settled in Selleck, Washington?

FN: Selleck, uh-huh.

RP: And what was he doing for work?

FN: Well, I don't know what kind of job he had but he worked in a sawmill.

RP: And was Selleck a company town?

FN: Yeah. Uh-huh.

RP: You worked, you lived in housing that was supplied by the company?

FN: Uh-huh.

RP: What are some of your earliest memories of growing in Selleck, Washington?

FN: Oh, I don't know. We used to walk to school and whether it rained, shined, or snowed. It's, where I lived was a little, oh, a little camp-like with a lot of Japanese that worked in the sawmill. So I grew up with a lot of those kids. And we went to school together and I don't know, we were just close friends.

RP: Were there other ethnic groups as well in the town other than Japanese?

FN: Yeah, more Caucasians but they lived in another part of the town. So I mean, they were just in different groups.

RP: So, all the Japanese lived in one little segregated area?

FN: Uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh. And Caucasians lived... but we mingled together so, uh-huh.

RP: You had a pretty large family. How many kids besides you?

FN: Well there were six and myself, so there's seven.

RP: Can you, can you give us the names of your siblings? You were the first, right?

FN: I'm first.

RP: You're the oldest.

FN: And my sister was second.

RP: And what was her name?

FN: Mieko.

RP: Okay.

FN: And brother, Shigeru. And a sister, Hisako, and Kazuko. How many is that?

RP: Let's see, one, two, three, four, that's four plus yourself.

FN: Five.

RP: You got, you got two more to go.

FN: Two more. Yoshiko.

RP: Yoshiko.

FN: And Dick.

RP: Dick, okay. So being the oldest of the children you, did you have some responsibilities for everybody else?

FN: Very much. Uh-huh. Yeah.

RP: How far of a walk to school was it for you?

FN: About couple a miles.

RP: Now, were you brought up with a Japanese type of upbringing?

FN: Well, no, not exactly. It's, folks get Americanized quick so I mean there's nothing real strict about Japanese things, so, I mean, we were free. My folks never did pin us down to anything but they taught us to be honest and be kind to other people and be good to them like they want them to be good to you. I mean that's the bringing up that my folks brought me up as to be honest and that was one of the things they really pressed on. And we were loyal Americans. We had nothing to do with Japan. My folks, once they came back out, they never went back to Japan so they were just happy with the way things are here.

RP: So, none of the, none of the children were ever sent back to Japan either.

FN: No, my mother and dad was gonna take me to Japan once to see my grandfolks but we refused to go. I don't know. We said, "Well, if you want to go to Japan you two go. I'll stay with my friends." So they never did go.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.