<Begin Segment 10>

EB: So what kind of impression did the latrines have on you, or at all? Okay, yes, they did. [Laughs]

GS: As young as I was, they were awful; they were really bad. In the beginning, of course, you know, that there were no partitions, they just had the open stalls. Absolutely no privacy. And even the... let's see, there were a row of latrine toilets, and then there were another row of toilets facing the other way. Eventually they put in a wall between the two, and then eventually they put in the side walls and so at least there was some privacy. But I always made sure I went around to the back side, so that at least you're not seen by people as they walk in the door. And you know, as young as I was, that really, really bothered me. And the other thing I hated was the showers. I never took a shower in my life before I went to camp, it was always a bath. So I didn't know anything about a shower. And then to get in this room with lots of other people at the same time, I had never had to do... I mean, I was never exposed to any time of nudity or anything in front of a group of people. It was just my own family. And even at that, usually I took a bath by myself, or I'm sure when I was young my mother probably had both of us, my brother and me in the tub at the same time, and that I don't remember. But even when, living in Los Angeles, I remember taking a bath by myself. And then when we went to camp and had all these people, I mean, there was absolutely no privacy, and I just, I really did not like that. But what were we to do? We were all in that same situation.

EB: How did that affect your mother, being older?

GS:I don't know. I never asked her. But my mother is the kind of person who really will bear with anything, even though she doesn't like it, or even... and no matter how embarrassing the situation is, she just kind of, the word in Japanese is gaman, you know, you just kind of hold it and you just bear with it, and there isn't much you can do about it. And that was part of what she tried to instill in us as we were growing. But I never did ask her. I did ask her a few other things as an adult, and one of them was when we were living in Maryland after the, after we had relocated, our life was just so bad. I asked her, "Do you wish you were back in camp?" Because it was better in camp than in Maryland, but she said, "No." "No, I don't want to go back there even though our life here in Maryland is not good." She said, "I don't want to be back there behind the barbed wire fence."

EB: Okay. Were you shy or mischievous or happy or quiet while you were at camp? What was your personality like?

GS: I don't think I was really mischievous. I just knew, I was taught from an early age what's right and what's wrong, and if I wasn't supposed to do something, I didn't do it. And perhaps that was a lot of naivete on my part, too, but I was just brought up that way. What's wrong is wrong, and what's right is right. Whereas my brother, he was different. If there was something he wanted to do, even though he knew it was wrong, he did it. And by nature I think throughout my life I've been more on the quiet, reticent side rather than being more talkative and outgoing as my younger sister. Even to this day, I think I'm much more introverted than my brother who was much more extroverted, and certainly than my sister, my younger sister, the third one. But there are certain things even today... several years ago if you had asked me to do this interview, I probably would have said no. But today I feel a little bit more differently about it, and I feel that I can be more open and speak about certain things. But if it were several years ago, I probably would have said no. Even though I had the interest to do it, I think I would have been to reticent to do it. So I don't know whether this is older age. [Laughs]

EB: Were you ever aware of the Manzanar Free Press growing up? Or while you were in Manzanar, did you ever read any of it or get one for your parents or anything like that?

GS: When I was growing up, I knew nothing about that. I only became aware of it as an adult, and of course, I was, anything to do with the Free Press, if at any time I saw anything or it was made available to me, yes, I was very interested, and I still am today. And my uncle was the editor of the Free Press.

EB: And his name again?

GS: Roy Takeno. He left, after he left camp he went to Denver and worked on I don't know what paper it was, but some newspaper company. And he... after his, I don't know how long he worked with that job, but eventually he went to, went on with other jobs. And then when, later in life, then he worked for a Japanese American newspaper.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2006 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.