Densho Digital Archive - Kazuko Miyoshi - Yasuko Miyoshi Iseri Interview (denshovh-mkazuko

<Begin Segment 16>

KL: That reminds me that you mentioned the library. Tell me what your memories of the library at Manzanar.

KM: It was in, I think it was Block 16 or 36. You could go there, you'd walk over there and he'd check out books. They had a book club, and I signed up for it because there was an organ grinder with a monkey, and it was a picture, and then these balloons came off of it. Every time you finished a book, you flew your balloon. And my mother would go to the Japanese language library and she would get stories to read to us. So we had some cultural infusion of Japanese things, and that was good. So we enjoyed that. And she would read to us.

KL: Were there favorite stories, favorite children's stories of yours from that time?

KM: There were children's stories, and as I recall...

YI: Momotaro-san.

KM: Peach Boy.

YI: The Peach Boy.

KM: Susume no Gakkou.

YI: And I remember songs, she would sing --

KL: What's Susume no Gakkou?

KM: Susume is a bird.

YI: And school, gakkou.

KM: That kind of a bird, and they would go to school like a Disney character would. And so they would do lessons and things. And then Peach Boy is about the old couple who find this peach, and inside this peach is a little boy. And so their life is happy because this child comes down into their lives. These are classic Japanese tales, I guess. A lot of them were sad.

KL: What about songs?

YI: Yeah. Haru ga Kita.

KM: Those are songs.

YI: Yeah, well, she asked me. What was the... see, if you don't write it down? [Laughs]

KL: I know, ask you directly. What is Haru ga Kita?

YI: Haru ga Kita? Spring is Here. What were some of the others?

KL: How did you know the songs?

YI: My mother.

KM: What about the record you had about the kids?

YI: Children's, Toshiba Angels, it was an album of children's songs. And I played it because it was nostalgic to remember camp.

KL: There's a Momotaro song, too, isn't there?

KM: Probably. It was nice to have...

KL: Did you know the Momotaro song?

KM: Yeah, we used to know it.

YI: But you know, if you don't sing it, you don't use it, you can forget them. You forget the... like my kids, I feel sad that I can't teach them what my mother did. I mean, it's gone. And, of course, they won't be experiencing camp, I don't want them to do that. So it was fun for kids, for sure.