Densho Digital Archive - Hanako Hoshiyama Fukumoto Interview (denshovh-fhanako-01-0013)

<Begin Segment 13>

KL: This is Kristen Luetkemeier back for tape two of an interview with Hana Fukumoto. And it's still August 5, 2013. And when we left off we had just, we were talking about your arrival to Manzanar, and how the camp was still under construction. So what did it sound like when you got off the bus?

HF: Well, first they gave us shots and then they took us to the mess hall to eat. So we had hotdogs, I remember that.

KL: Which mess hall was it? Was it in your block?

HF: Yes, Block 12, Number 22.

KL: What was your address at first in Manzanar?

HF: 22, Building 10, Apartment 1.

KL: How did you find Block 22? Did someone guide you or did you get a map?

HF: Somebody must have taken us.

KL: Do you remember that walk at all?

HF: No, I don't. I remember just where we ate, the mess hall where they gave us the shots.

KL: They gave you the shots in the mess hall?

HF: I think it was easier that way because everything is so far away, you had to walk to wherever you want to go.

KL: I don't know if that's an appetizing start to...

HF: Probably riding all day.

KL: ...dinner, yeah. You mentioned that you could see evidence of the lack of sewer system. Tell us about that.

HF: Well, because it wasn't completed yet, they had from, just for the water, must be from the kitchen, I remember the water running down the, not the street, but I don't know, they made a little ditch, I guess, and it was running down. That's all I remember of that.

KL: Oh, like in the blocks?

HF: Uh-huh.

KL: Oh, I see.

HF: I think the bathroom sewer system must have been completed already.

KL: When you first arrived at the barracks apartment, what did you see?

HF: Well, they dropped us off at the mess hall, so that's what we saw first.

KL: What did you do after dinner?

HF: Probably went to the, found our apartment, and we had to unload our things, try to see what we could do, where we could put our clothes when there was no closet.

KL: Did you carry your things with you to the mess hall and to the barrack, or how did they get to the barracks?

HF: I really don't know. I don't remember.

KL: When you walked into the barrack the first time, what was there? Would you describe it?

HF: There was nothing there. There was an oil stove for the heating, then there was one light hanging down, one light bulb, and that was it.

KL: How did people respond?

HF: Well, since there was no furniture and they were still constructing, the men went around looking for any kind of lumber so they could make any tables or whatever, and that's what they did. So they must have looked for nails, too, to put it together.

KL: Did you have cots or beds in your apartment?

HF: Yeah, they gave us a cot, and then they gave us a bag for a mattress, and you had to fill it with straw. So every morning you had to shake the straw and then plan it out again, or whatever.

KL: And who was in your apartment with you?

HF: My mother, my father, my sister, my two brothers, and then my younger sister, and then my cousin. That room was maybe from here, that much. We had no running water, and no toilet.

KL: You guys were in Apartment 1. Did you have a spigot outside of your apartment when you moved in?

HF: Do we have a what?

KL: A spigot, a water faucet outside?

HF: Yeah, there was one outside, I remember that. Because that's what we watered the lawn with that.

KL: Okay. I was gonna ask what you used that water for.

HF: To water the lawn.

KL: Did you guys plant a lawn?

HF: No, we didn't plant a lawn. We didn't have any seeds.

KL: Your neighbor had kept some of your furniture and sent that to Manzanar. Do you have a sense for how early that was when that furniture arrived?

HF: No, it was later on, quite a bit later on. So we just, we just got along with whatever we had.

KL: Did you, did anybody in your family build extra furniture or find any wood and do construction?

HF: No. My father was not very clever, so he didn't make it, but somebody else made the furniture for us.

KL: Oh, do you know who that was?

HF: I don't know, probably a friend of Mother or friend of somebody. They made us some chairs. They call it the...

KL: Adirondack?

HF: Yeah, that kind of chair.

KL: How did you arrange the space inside the apartment?

HF: That chair was too big. We had benches in the, we had a... first, let's see. First we put up, we must have used the bedspread or something to divide the front area from the sleeping area. And then we had a bench right in front, so that's where we sat most of the time.

KL: So there were those two kind of main divisions.

HF: Right, uh-huh. So I think we didn't stay in the room too much. And then you could hear the next door people.

KL: Who else was in your barrack? Did you know...

HF: There was a couple with two young girls. Sometimes you could hear the children cry. I think there were four rooms to a barrack, and the next one was that, with the two girls. I don't know who was on the other end. I don't remember.