<Begin Segment 6>

KL: You said your dad was a fisherman. Did he own a boat?

MS: No. He joined the crew of one of the boats. There were basically two types of fishing boats, those that went out for the day, which came back in the evening, and those that went out further to Baja, Mexico, and north to the San Francisco area to fish. And those were the ones that were gone for maybe two or three weeks or a month, and my father used to be on one of those.

KL: Yeah, I didn't realize that until I was, the first time I really talked to somebody from Terminal Island. I was surprised by how far the ships went. So he would be gone for a month or a couple weeks?

MS: Roughly, right. It wasn't one of those boats that went out and came back the same day.

KL: How was that for your family?

MS: You know, I didn't have any reason to feel his absence. I was very comfortable, I think my sister felt the same way. I think it was because of the way the families were reared to behave. In other words, the siblings supported each other, and, of course, the mother took care, basically took care of the kids.

KL: That was another question I kind of had about if there were sometimes, like in my family my mom stayed at home and she cared for us, and my dad was at work, both of them were very nurturing, my brother was littler, he was mellow. What kind of dynamics were at work in your family, like what roles did people play and what were your relationships to each other?

MS: You know, I always remember from way back that my sister always looked after me. Even today she does. [Laughs] And I believe it was the same with all the families in Terminal Island.

KL: That siblings really looked out for each other?

MS: Yeah, the older ones took care of the younger ones.

KL: What about people's relationship with each other? How would you describe the community dynamic on Terminal Island from family to family?

MS: There were, you know, certain friendships that formed, and it wasn't, it's not like a complete community feeling where everybody got along with everybody. It's typical social environment.

KL: How many families were in that community, do you think? Do you have a sense for how, the population census?

MS: You know, I don't know what the population was in Terminal Island.

KL: Who do you remember in particular? Who was your family close to?

MS: It was, the friendships were closer with people who came from the same parts of Japan. And what else? Of course, the kids chose differently, but I don't know what else to say.

KL: We hear sometimes about kenjinkai associations.

MS: Pardon me?

KL: We hear sometimes about kenjinkai associations, like you were mentioning kind of ties to people from similar backgrounds. Was there...

MS: That's true. Different kens or prefecture people, people who came from those prefectures had their social gatherings like picnics.

KL: Did you guys participate in that?

MS: Yes, we participated in the Shizuoka-ken picnic. And I don't know whether we participated in any other kenjinkai's social activities or not.

KL: What were the picnics like? Where were they?

MS: Well, you know, typically they had races for the kids and entertainment, and lot of good food. [Laughs]

KL: Were those on Terminal Island?

MS: No, these were in parks around L.A., Los Angeles.

KL: So the membership was from all over Los Angeles.

MS: Yeah, wherever they were living.

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