<Begin Segment 4>

KP: Did you... what kind of, were you involved, was your family involved in any community at all? Did you go to church?

TF: Well, They were more Buddhist, and that was the different part, because there was an Episcopalian church in our neighborhood that had a Japanese minister. And they had Boy Scouts and other activities. But you had to be a church member to do that, and since we were Buddhists, you couldn't participate in anything. And the Buddhist church, I guess the Bonsan, the priest, used to come around just on Sundays. And he speaks in Japanese or whatever language the Buddhists talked then, we don't know what the heck he's saying. And so you lose interest in all that. So I thought I was a, sort of a disadvantage to be raised as a Buddhist when the activities were all at the Christian church, which were, we were denied.

KP: Did your family celebrate any of the Japanese holidays?

TF: Oh, always had New Year's. New Year's was the big thing. All I remember is that before New Year's, though, after Christmas, we had to make sure we cleaned up everything so that we could start the New Year right. I remember that, where you had to do that. As far as any other times, there's always the birthdays. But they tell me that when I was young, I questioned my mother if she liked me, because I was born in February. And when you're poor, for your birthday, you can't get very much. So they used to get the food available, and it was these green apples. And when it was my brothers and sisters have their birthdays, it's watermelon season. And so I'm asking her, "Don't you like me?" because all I get is green apples, you know, and they tell me that. But it's this kind of stuff that occurs. The usual holidays we celebrated, even Thanksgiving. but in Thanksgiving again, it's one of those things where everybody has turkey, but I think ours must have been a chicken, because you cut it in small pieces, and there's six of you, and that's when my mother used to tell me how, when we had ice cream maybe once during the summer, how she didn't like ice cream. And that was great with me, because that means we get more.

But I learned a lot later, when my folks came to live with us, with my wife, when we got married, he lost his job at Seabrook Farms, and so my wife automatically told them, even though we were expecting our first child, that they're welcome to come stay with us, because she and I come from the same family stock, you might say, from Kumamoto, they're all about the same. So they came, and then my wife spoke Japanese real well, and my mother told her she loves ice cream. And so I put two and two together, you know. Parents don't want anything, especially if the kids want it. So these are the kind of stuff I learned later on in life.

KP: So you think the important lessons that you got from your parents is the value of family.

TF: The value of the family is most important, and you look after the kids. And if there's not enough, the kids get it, even if you have to tell them you don't like it, you know. But these are the kind of stuff, and it was difficult because I'm too stupid. I didn't learn the language good enough, and the benefit of that is that my wife spoke real well. But then the benefit of that is it stops there, because then I rely on her to do all of that kind of stuff. And so that's the way it went.

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