Densho Digital Archive - Sachiye Okamoto - Miho Shiroishi Interview (denshovh-osachiye

<Begin Segment 17>

KL: Did you guys go to, you went to church in camp.

SO: Uh-huh.

KL: Were there any other groups that you were a part of?

SO: Did you take dancing or anything?

MS: No.

SO: All I went to was church.

KL: No dancing in camp?

MS: No dance.

KL: Did you play music or sing or anything in school?

SO: No, our mother was a singer, and she sang that, she sang shigin, I don't know if you're familiar with that type of music, but it's... so she would take part in whatever, they must have had get-togethers in the mess hall afterwards or once a month, I don't know what. But I do recall her singing.

KL: Was that in the Block 8 rec hall?

SO: Eight, yes, Block 8.

KL: There's a shigin group coming to Manzanar to perform and make a donation this fall.

SO: Really?

KL: And they, do you remember, is it 32 where they would rehearse?

AL: I don't have my laptop. We can tell you, when you come tonight, we'll get you more information. We did an exhibit on shigin several years ago, and I still have all the text from the panels, so I can get that to you later.

SO: Oh, gosh. I didn't care for that type of music.

KL: Oh, really?

SO: No, it's kind of boring.

MS: Real old-fashioned, isn't it?

SO: Isn't it? I mean, to sit through that thing. And she would practice at home.

KL: What kind of music did you like?

SO: Oh, we liked the '40s music, whatever. You know, we could jitterbug.

KL: Saxophones and trumpets.

SO: Yeah.

KL: Did you go to dances ever at Manzanar?

SO: You were still young.

MS: I was in the sixth grade. I started seventh grade when I came out. But I do remember working in the mess hall.

KL: Yeah, I want to hear about that. What do you remember?

MS: Before I went to school? Like KP, peeling potatoes. I remember peeling potatoes, and after the mess hall opened, I'd stand at the end (of the line) and pour coffee or whatever. And then they had these long tables, wiped the tables as they were finished, so I did that.

SO: I remember our mother telling us that she had to go to work because most families had older brothers or husbands that worked in the mess hall or were block managers or something, and we needed money, we were so poor, so she had to go work. And I'm pretty sure she said she used to earn nine dollars a month.

MS: I think that's what everybody (got).

SO: Well, anyhow, she had to go to work.

KL: Were there other kids your age who were working?

MS: I don't recall, no. I was, what, nine or ten at that time. (And) that was just before school.

KL: Those mess halls sound like busy places, with meetings and people coming and going for food and the crews kind of being powerful people.

MS: Yeah. If you didn't eat there, you didn't eat. We didn't have stoves in the...

SO: Yeah, they would clang the bell.

MS: Yeah, and then you'd line up.

KL: Do you remember any gardens or anything around the mess hall? Any rock gardens or water gardens?

MS: I don't recall those things.

SO: I remember a pig farm for some reason.

KL: Did you go out there?

SO: Yeah. Just to go look at the pigs, you know, to go see some animals. And then during special holidays or something, they'd have a display of a pig in the mess hall.

KL: On a platter?

SO: Yes. And I could remember the mess hall always smelling like curry, and to this day I cannot eat curry. I won't eat it.

KL: Yeah, what did you think of the food? You said you didn't like Japanese food.

SO: I don't know. I didn't like curry, and I haven't tried it since.

MS: See, I love curry. That's probably where I got it. And I remember eating wieners and sauerkraut a lot.

KL: Was that a treat, or did you think it was gross?

SO: [Aside] It's my phone.

MS: Oh, I thought it was okay, you know. To this day I don't have too much problems with food. I got used to all that, what was served in Manzanar. What I didn't like were the, what do you call it, serving dish that, you know, they put the food on. It was metal, you know, it was like oval shaped, had a handle like that. I didn't like eating on metal. So that's what I objected to. They fed us, so I shouldn't complain.

KL: Do you think you went to the hog farm with your class?

MS: No, as kids we used to sneak out there just to, I don't know... we used to go down to the creek, and they'd say, "Watch out, don't go in the water." Just to have something to do, we'd go and investigate.

KL: Was that the creek inside the camp, the Bairs Creek on the south side?

SO: I think so. Is that where it was, by the hog farm?

KL: There is one that goes inside the camp.

SO: Okay, it must have been there. We used to go swim out there.