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AL: So you have a sister who's born before the war, is that right?

YN: Yes, Joyce, Shizuko Joyce.

AL: What year was she born?

YN: 1940.

AL: And you were born in '42?

YN: '42, right. So they were interned in Manzanar from April 25, 1942, and I was born in October.

AL: What do you know about any recollections they shared of their lives before the war aside from their work lives? Any sort of traveling or connections or cultural things they might have been involved in?

YN: No, I don't.

AL: Just busy working? Did your mother work in the business also?

YN: I don't think so.

AL: Do you recall any stories that they shared of the war, the beginning of the war, the months before they went to camp? Any stories you've heard in your family about their move to Manzanar?

YN: No, only that they sold whatever they could, and that they could pay for the property. So the property was still there in Santa Monica for them when they returned, but they didn't go back until much later.

AL: Do you know who cared for the property during the war?

YN: No, I don't.

AL: So in their, when they got to Manzanar, do you know who they lived with? I mean, with only one child, they would have probably been in with other people. Do you know if they lived with family or with strangers?

YN: Well, with my father and mother and my older sister, there was my grandmother and grandfather, and, let's see. Frank was married and Jimmy and Tomi and Lily. They were all there, all of his brothers and sisters were there, and my mother's sister was also there.

AL: So did your mother's sister live near your mother when she came over or was she totally on her own?

YN: I don't know. I don't think she ever lived with them, but I don't know why she got together with the family, I don't know whether she had the same family number or not.

AL: So you said that your father worked on the survey crew?

YN: Uh-huh.

AL: Do you know how he got that job? Did he volunteer for it or did he get... do you know anything about that? No stories?

YN: I don't know anything about that, no.

AL: What did they say about camp in later years?

YN: You know, they really didn't talk a lot about it when we were growing up. I just met my college roommate, and she said, "I didn't know you were going to Manzanar." I said, "Well, we didn't talk about it then." So it's just in the last twenty, thirty years that we talk about the internment to let people know.

AL: When did you learn that you were born in Manzanar?

YN: I think from the beginning.

AL: What did you think Manzanar was as a child?

YN: As a child, I don't know. I guess I knew it was an internment camp, but, or a place where all these Japanese people lived. But we really didn't talk about it specifically or why we were there. We were together as a family.

AL: So you would have been born in the new hospital that opened at Manzanar, the permanent hospital, I should say, opened in August of 1942. Did your mother ever share any recollections about her experience in the hospital or your birth or any stories unique to being born in Manzanar?

YN: Except I just found out today, or last night, at the mixer that there was a notice in the Manzanar Free Press that my mother gave birth to a baby girl, but they had the wrong name. Not my name, but they had my mother's name wrong, and so they had to write a correction with her name correct.

AL: Do you know which doctor delivered you, did you ever hear?

YN: Dr. Goto.

AL: Dr. Goto. Did you know him in later years?

YN: No, I didn't.

AL: He went back in practice to L.A. Actually, it's kind of an aside, but his great-nephew works for us.

YN: Oh, my goodness.

AL: So your father, I know we were talking last night about the sketchbook that your father did in Manzanar and then the very few copies available. What do you know about that, how that sketchbook came to be and how it came to be distributed, 'cause there's multiple copies, originals that exist. Do you know anything about the background of that sketchbook?

YN: I don't know. I know that my sister had a copy, whether it was an original or not, but from whatever copy she had, she made copies for my brother and myself, and I don't know who else. So I have a copy.

AL: But you said last night that your father said that was not to be distributed, is that the same one?

YN: It was not for publication.

AL: You said you have a brother?

YN: I have a brother, yes.

AL: I didn't realize, I thought they just had three girls. So how many children are in your family and what are their names?

YN: Well, there were four children. My older sister, Shizuko Joyce, is the one that went to camp, to Manzanar. And then I was born in Manzanar, and then my brother is [inaudible] Susumu Fukuhara, and he was born in New York. And Helen Yasuko Fukuhara was born in New York also.

AL: When was your brother born?

YN: 1946, January 26, 1946. And Helen was born August 19, 1948.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.