<Begin Segment 14>

AL: What kind of other duties like that would your father do, just beyond his ministry?

SO: Weddings, funerals, and all the activities at church. They were very active, especially the young people's group. Well, you'll see in the album that I gave you, that they were always planning different things.

AL: So when there was a group like the Young Buddhist Association, was it made up of people of all the different sects like Zen Buddhism?

SO: No, it was all the Shinshu.

AL: So it was, each group stayed within itself.

SO: Correct.

AL: Was there any kind of... I don't think rivalry is the right word, but you know, like within Catholic and Protestant, back then a little bit of tension. Do you think there was any kind of tension between the different sects of Buddhism?

SO: Yes, because there's some literature that says because the Shinshu group was so large, that they were given the church in Block 13. And I think another sect which was very small, I guess, objected, that they were monopolizing that barrack. And so I think they had to give them some time, so on Sunday I think afternoons, that their group was able to use the same buildings. Then I think eventually they found a place for everybody.

AL: So would they socialize together?

SO: Not really, no. Not really.

AL: Were you involved in Obon or any of the cultural...

SO: Uh-huh. Well, we used to dance.

AL: Where did you get... I've seen like pictures of the Obon where the girls wearing kimono, I mean, where would you get those things?

SO: I think those were brought in after the initial camp moving in, because you could only take one suitcase at a time. But all through camp, friends from the outside could bring things to the camp, and I guess it had to pass inspection. But that's how the koto got in, and I think a lot of people had their friends bring kimonos and things like that in.

AL: So the cultural events that you participated in, was your role any different because you were the minister's daughter?

SO: No, no.

AL: Just one of the children?

SO: Just one of the children.

AL: Do you remember the Toy Loan Library?

SO: No, I don't.

AL: Did you have toys in camp?

SO: I just remember my father ordering a doll for me from Sears Roebuck, and it was my treasured piece that I had. And then my sister Jean was younger than me, she just ruined, she tried to comb her hair and she just ruined it. That was so traumatic for me, I remember that. And I think maybe that's why we named her Jean, you know, I think that's how she got her English name, was because the doll was a Jeannie Walker doll, and so I think that's how.

AL: So you lost the doll and got a sister?

SO: I got a sister.

AL: You probably preferred the doll, huh? [Laughs]

SO: [Laughs] Probably.

AL: What about... I know I'm kind of bouncing around again a little bit, but as a small child, were you conscious of the fact that there were guard towers and searchlights and military police? What can you tell me about that?

SO: They were sort of intimidating. I knew they were there, I mean, you can't help but see them, right? And they're keeping us in, but I guess... I probably thought that's just the way it is. Being so young, I didn't know any different.

AL: Did your parents tell you anything about the fence or the soldiers or anything?

SO: No, not other than don't go too close. But that's about it.

AL: How far of a radius were you allowed to go?

SO: Maybe a block or so, not too far. My mother was pretty protective, so other than going to school...

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.