Densho Digital Archive - Sumiko Yamauchi Interview (denshovh-ysumiko

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WP: And what was your social life like there?

SY: Not much, other than going to the recreation hall on weekends. During the summer we had outdoor movies, that was fun. Going to the baseball games, when it really got to become quite a bit... at the beginning it started out, this group of people got together and starting hitting balls, then next thing you knew, they made a baseball team. And then another team would come up, and before you know it, near the end, we had quite a league. They would pass out bulletin as to when certain game was playing, and we would go out and root for them. Buddhist church would have their annual Bon Odori as they called the festival, and that was always fun. That was about the size of recreation.

WP: Did you go to dances?

SY: When I could. [Laughs] I used to enjoy dancing. So I think jitterbug was the thing, you know, and that was... because it had a lot of movement, you know, and that was really fun. And as far as slow music, it wasn't, not too many people went for it. Well, yeah, they did. There were more people who could do slow dancing, not too many could do jitterbug. But I used to enjoy doing jitterbug because, I don't know, little bit more movement, and that was fun.

WP: Was there a group of people your age that you hung out with a lot, or did you have some specific friends that you spent a lot of time with?

SY: Well, I used to have a girlfriend that was in the same block as where I lived. But nothing... well, no, I had another girlfriend who also graduated school with me, and I used to go visit with her even after we left camp. She used to... I don't know if you know Toyo Miyatake, she married the son, and he had a studio in Los Angeles, and I used to go visit them once in a while.

WP: What was your friend's name?

SY: Take. Oh, do you know who she is?

WP: Archie?

SY: Archie, yeah. Father was Toyo Miyatake. Take and I graduated together.

WP: So do you remember him taking photographs?

SY: Well, he took a picture of my senior picture, and he took quite a bit of the other pictures, too, because he was the photographer. In fact, he was the one, the father, I should say, Toyo Miyatake, not Archie. Toyo Miyatake is the one that was, showed the photographer in the annual.

WP: Ansel Adams?

SY: Yeah. He was the one that showed him around the camp. And Toyo Miyatake, in turn, is a very well-known in his day, but Archie had two sons who was equally, I don't know if you've ever heard...

WP: Alan and Gary?

SY: I can't remember what the name was, but one of 'em worked for the Life Magazine. You know which one that is, Life Magazine?

WP: Yeah, I know Life Magazine. So two of Archie's, or one of Archie's sons?

SY: I don't know if they're both, but they're all photographers.

WP: Yeah, and the studio's still in Los Angeles.

SY: Yes, it is. Archie still has it, I don't know if the son's taken over. I think it's, by now, I think it would be the son.

WP: I think Alan does a lot of work with the studio currently in Los Angeles. Did you go to any religious services, or did your family?

SY: The guy who taught me... well, no. When we used to have at the recreation hall, this one guy was real good jitterbugger, and he was the one that taught me a lot of the steps. But he was also a piano player, and so he... there weren't that many pianos there, and the only way he could practice on piano was to go up to the Buddhist church. Or Block 17 and Buddhist church is not too far from there, and he had to walk up towards... and so he used to stop by, because not every place would, knew how to jitterbug, and he had the rhythm because he knew how to play piano, I think that's what it is. And so everybody liked to have him come over to the recreation hall and teach, so I learned from him. And so I decided, okay, my mother's Buddhist, my father's Buddhist, I think I'll go to the Buddhist church. And I did go to Buddhist church, but not because of the religion.