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

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KL: So this may seem silly because I know the answers to some of these questions, but where were you both born?

MS: I was born at Terminal Island.

SO: In what? (1932)...

MS: (1932). You were born...

SO: In Long Beach, in a hospital.

KL: Very fancy.

SO: Yeah. She was born by midwife. [Laughs]

MS: Compared to me.

KL: What did your mom say about that? Did she talk about that?

MS: It was with a midwife when I was born in Terminal Island. I don't think they had hospitals there. It was a real neat place, Terminal Island. But it was sad to see how it was after we came back.

KL: What are your early memories of Terminal Island?

MS: Oh, kids running to the wharf and watching our father's fishing boat leave and return. We lived on Cannery Street, so it was very close to going to the wharf, right?

SO: Yes. And our father would babysit us, and he would take us out. And I was so scared. Remember when he'd take us out on his boat all day while he's fishing? And then we would come back, and he'd put us on the, he would just, "Here, here, (Mama)," and that's why I'm so scared of the water still today.

KL: He would just hand you over the side?

SO: Yeah, it was like, oh my god, we'd stand there like this. [Laughs] Yeah, I do remember him taking us all out on the boat, I think the four of us and then the baby. She stayed home.

KL: Where you scared of the boat, of the water?

SO: I don't think so, but I was scared when we came back, because I was afraid I'm going to fall backwards into the water. I'd stand there like this.

KL: Do you remember the name of the boat?

MS: Well, it was called Redeemer.

SO: That was the name of his boat?

MS: That was the name of a boat, wasn't it?

SO: His boat?

MS: His boat.

SO: Oh, okay.

KL: Your father's boat was the Redeemer?

MS: Uh-huh.

KL: Do you know why he chose that name?

MS: I don't know, but I remember the name.

KL: He had one boat?

SO: Yes.

MS: I'm just wondering if that was the first or second boat. It seems like there was a boat called Nancy S, and I'm just wondering if that was his boat.

SO: No, that was after we came back from Manzanar, after the war. They worked as migrant workers. We were in federal housing in trailers, we lived in trailers, and this is right after Manzanar. And then the trucks would come by, and then take them up to pick green beans or strawberries. And they did that for a while. And then their friend got this boat named Nancy S.

MS: Oh, okay, that's why.

SO: That's the name of that boat that he worked on. It was the seine, S-E-I-N-E, fishing boat, so they had a crew of about, well, I don't know, they would go into Mexico and up north for tuna.

MS: So Nancy S was the boat he was on after he came out of camp, but that was not his.

SO: No.

MS: He was just the crew.

KL: Before camp, when he had the Redeemer, how far would he go on those fishing trips?

SO: We don't know. He used to take us, so we couldn't have gone that far.

KL: Would you go for a day or a week?

SO: No, we would not go for a week, we would go for a day. He was just babysitting us.

MS: He'd go fishing in Mexico. That's why the FBI was so interested in the fishermen, because they were going out of the country to fish.

KL: Yeah, I was amazed the first time someone told me how far their father went on those fishing trips. I didn't realize.

MS: Then our mother worked in the cannery.

KL: What are your memories of that, of her work there, her hours?

SO: Of her smelling like fish. That's what I remember. And I had to take care of our little sister while our parents went to work.

MS: And it seems like the whole community was like a family, you know. They'd be taking care of the kids, too, (even if it) weren't their own. I mean, it just felt like even with your parents working, you just felt like there was always the extended family. Everybody seemed like they were there to pitch in and help. So that was a neat feeling. That's the only kind of feeling we knew. And then we'd go to Manzanar, and it's the same thing. Because, you know, we're the only people there, the race.