<Begin Segment 6>

AL: Other than your extended family, were there many other Japanese Americans in Deer Park?

YN: No.

AL: Or Farmingdale before that?

YN: In Farming... I don't remember any others, but there must have been some because my father was to recruit these Japanese workers for this nursery. But I don't remember having any association. I remember when we were in Deer Park we used to have, Mr. Yoshida was the egg man and he would come and deliver eggs. And in the very beginning I don't remember it, and definitely not in the town of Deer Park, it's just a small town. Eventually we had two war brides settle in the town.

AL: Being one of the few families there, do you feel like you were treated differently by your neighbors? You said the Olsons had befriended you. I mean, obviously in the '40s on the West Coast there was so much racism and anti-Japanese sentiment, how would you compare, I know you didn't live here before the war, but just from what you know of growing up in Deer Park, how would that have compared to the racial climate here? Were you conscious of being of different ancestry, or was it just no big deal?

YN: I didn't... but I do remember my mother saying that we... I'm assuming it was New York City where we got off the train, that the Caucasian people were just coming up to us and hugging us, and never seeing any Japanese children. And so that impressed her, and that story impressed me. But I do not remember any prejudice in New York. We went to school, it was a small school, small town, small school. And, no, I didn't feel it.

AL: Do you recall your parents ever discussing whether or when to return to the West Coast? Like when you were a small child, was there ever a discussion of, "Oh, we're gonna get back to Santa Monica," or did you just assume they were just going to stay in New York?

YN: Oh, we were just going to stay in New York forever. [Laughs] Forever, although I think my mother as she got older wanted to come to California because the winters are quite severe. And so she had talked about it, but I don't think my father ever really wanted to come back. And at that point he had established himself and retired from the nursery and established himself as an artist. He was teaching, giving workshops, and so if he moved to California he'd have to reestablish that, which he did. He did. So he was very fortunate. But I think if my mother didn't want to come back, I think he would have been very happy to stay in New York.

AL: I wonder if the racial climate and difference, when you were saying being so accepted there, had anything to do with... I mean, who knows, but if it had anything to do with their decisions to remain there. So when you were talking about your father becoming known as an artist, when were you conscious of him as an, realizing that, wow, my dad is an artist, as opposed to just a father who likes to sketch?

YN: Oh, well, I had moved to California in 1968, and that's about when he was retiring and started... he always liked to go to galleries, and he'd go into New York. And he started attending different workshops, selected artists that he felt he wanted to learn under. But it was mostly after I had moved to California.

AL: And what brought you to California?

YN: Well, we had vacationed here, and we had family in Santa Monica. And so I thought... I had been teaching, and finished my master's degree, and I thought that was a good time for a change, so I came out to be with family, extended family in Santa Monica.

AL: Did your grandparents remain back in New York? Oh, you said they came back out with Frank and Jimmie in the '50s, right?

YN: Eventually, yeah.

AL: In the '50s.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.