<Begin Segment 9>

EB: And I want to talk about Tule Lake a little bit more, ask you about Tule Lake. So can you, can you remember your full camp address in Tule Lake?

JS: No, all I know is Block 57.

EB: Block 57? Okay. And do you have any impressions of the mess halls at Tule Lake?

JS: No, it was just a big building, and then we went and ate there, had our own time. We didn't eat as a family unit, I just went alone most of the time and just sat with... because most of the Tacoma people we knew. I don't recall ever going with my parents.

EB: I've heard that a lot from others who said that they didn't eat with their parents. But I think when I interviewed your wife, she said, "Yes, my parents eat together every meal." So she said, "We wanted to eat with our friends, but they made us eat all together." So are there any other impressions of... I know you didn't spend much time at Tule Lake, are there any other impressions of camp life that you'd like to share or experiences that maybe your family had after you'd already left?

JS: Well, I remember that we attended church. And since there were several church denominations, we attended the one, the minister was Reverend Tanabe. He was a student minister at our church in Tacoma before he got married. He married and his wife was a Tacoma person, her name was Haru Semba, and she lived to be ninety-plus and just passed away about three years ago. And I was in Hawaii to attend my sister's golden wedding anniversary. And Reverend Tanabe, at the age of ninety-eight, was still alive. And I visited him because my sister had kept in contact with the reverend all these years, and he remembered who I was at age ninety-eight. And so it was a wonderful experience. The last time I saw him was when he was serving in the ministry in Tule Lake.

EB: That's amazing. What kind of occupations did your parents have at Tule Lake, or did they work?

JS: My father worked as the... he took care of the food ordering for the hospital, managing the food supply, which was natural since he was in the produce business for many years.

EB: And did your mom work?

JS: No, she didn't. She just stayed at home, she didn't work at all.

EB: Okay.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.