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RP: Let's talk a little bit about some of the social activities and religious observances that you were involved in, growing up as a kid. You mentioned that you used to participate in the Japanese ondo street dancing.

MN: Yes, down in Little Tokyo.

RP: During Nisei Week?

MN: During Nisei Week.

RP: Tell us about that.

MN: That was a big thing. [Laughs] And we'd go for practice weeks ahead, and I don't remember, I didn't, I mean, I didn't, my sisters never went, but apparently my mother had a driver that, designated driver or a friend that we would go together, and we would practice. This is out in a parking lot or something. And then when the final few days that they had -- usually it was like a Saturday and a Sunday or something -- well, my mother would dress us, we'd dress up in our kimonos and go down there and do street dancing. [Laughs] Well, we had, it was fun.

RP: How important was the Little Tokyo area to your upbringing? Did you spend time there when you had free time?

MN: Only, no, only time when we went there was for, like, something special. That was it. In fact, we used to go down there sometimes, they used to have Chinese restaurants there and we would go down there, not very often. In fact, so we didn't spend a whole lot, maybe when I was younger, my grandma, she would, when I'd stay, like over the weekend or something. Well, Saturday is a clean up day for her, so after we all finished cleaning the house and all this, then we'd get in, my uncle would drive us down to there and we would have dinner down there. And we'd go to some of the, their department stores and things. But that was about it. But it's grown up and gotten very modern now down there.

RP: Did you have association with a religious affiliation?

MN: You mean...

RP: Growing up.

MN: Any what?

RP: Did you, was your family affiliated with a church or religious --

MN: Yes, she was Buddhist church. There is one down there, Higashi Hongwanji. Okay, the big, that was on Second Street, and there's another one on... Nishi Hongwanji. Well, the original church was over on Mott Street in East L.A. there, and that's where we used to go for services and everything.

RP: We were just talking about ondo dancing, but you had a great love of dancing.

MN: I, well, I've always, in fact, I had this friend that, well, they were family friends and they lived across the street on Los Feliz, and the two sisters used to dance, apparently, on a stage, tap dance and do all these other kinds. And I used to think -- and they wore these real fancy clothes -- "Oh, that would be nice. I think I'd like to do that." [Laughs] But she, Kato, in my younger days, taught me how to tap dance, and she, certain days she had time so she told me to come on over after school. She'd show me. But she was, they traveled, and I thought, "Well, isn't that nice. They get to travel plus perform." Two sisters that did a lot of that. In fact, the sister, the brother -- his name was Togo Tanaka, he was in camp. I don't know if you've come across his name, I don't... but anyway, it was his sisters that were performers. And I thought, "Gosh, Chicago and all these places, New York," and they would actually do the dancing on the stage. But they never, I don't know what, I think maybe one of 'em, they moved out to the Midwest or something, so they never got to, Togo was in camp, I think.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright &copy; 2011 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.