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KL: And what are your recollections of how your family spent your time when you were growing up, activities you did or organizations you were a part of?

WI: Well, we had what you might call a typical American type upbringing. Had a car and had our home.

KL: Do you know the address of that home?

WI: Yes. 1927 Bush Street.

KL: And what part of San Francisco is that?

WI: Japantown. That would be the, what they call the Western Edition. And so that was basically, in 1939 is when my dad purchased the home, and my sister was, I think my mother was pregnant with my sister at that time. Because I remember them coming home and we were already situated in our new home.

KL: Could you describe the home, kind of walking through it?

WI: Well, it was a typical San Francisco, not Victorian, but you go up the front stairs, you enter, you had a big living room and a connecting dining room. And then in the back was a kitchen, there was a hallway, and then on this side of the hallway was stairs that led up to three bedrooms and a sewing room. The sewing room was in the front of the house looking out of the window. So my mom used to sit up there and sew and watch the traffic go by. It was a very, very nice cozy home in typical San Francisco fashion. I remember the furnishings were on the dark side like the mahogany, you know, a lot of wood and all that, you know. And I remember vividly one painting that hung on the wall. And it was of an old ship, well, I guess kind of looking like something Columbus would have sailed. And I used to look at that. It would just sort of make this image that I may not have been thinking about anything in particular, may not even have been thinking about that picture, but I used to just look at it. And so that's sort of a limit.

KL: Any neighbors that stand out, or what did you like to do in your free time?

WI: Yes. Right next door was Nippon Fish, and they raised goldfish and carp for commercial sales. So I would look over from my upstairs down into their backyard, and they were like, just pond, or rather tanks, tanks full of fishes of various sizes. And the neighbor was a friend of mine, same age, so we grew up and I would go over and look at the goldfish, and it was fascinating. And of course, back then, I had my little puppy dog, little cocker spaniel named Snuffy. And so that was my first and actually only pet I've had. For Easters, I used to get little ducklings that three days would be dead, or little chicks or whatever. But Snuffy was my real pet.

KL: He was a survivor?

WI: Well, yeah, what happened also there, which was kind of sad. I had a playset in the backyard, little swings and what do you call, the teeter-totter or whatever. So I was on the swing, just swinging as high as I could go, and then I would hop off, and Snuffy came running around, and as the swing came down, Snuffy just got, boom, hit him right across the head. And of course he did his yap-yap-yap, and I went and soothed him and everything, and figured oh, I guess he's okay. But then a few hours later he started to foam at the mouth and then started to run around the yard. So my dad came home and picked him up and hopped in the car, never saw him again. I guess they put him to sleep.

KL: How old were you then?

WI: Well, I was thirteen, so I had already returned from the wartime camp. But prior to that, no, I had the usual, like I said, goldfish and things of that nature.

KL: So Nippon Fish was a prewar business?

WI: Yeah, and then again, postwar it was taken over by the Hirano family. And it was quite a thriving business because I guess goldfish and carps, people were building a lot of Japanese gardens in their yards and whatever. And it was really a good business there.

KL: Was that who your friend was, was he a member of the Hirano family?

WI: Yeah.

KL: So that was another memory from after the war, is that right?

WI: Yeah, that was after the war.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2013 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.