<Begin Segment 4>

KL: Do you have memories of Seattle or the voyage to Japan?

MN: No, I didn't remember because I was only three. I'd be three in May and I think to Japan, I think it was February or March, so two, about two months before my three years birthday. So I don't remember anything then.

KL: Why did you go to Japan?

MN: Well, at that time all the people from Japan thought someday they want to go back to Japan, so they send kids ahead of time so they will know enough Japanese, Japanese education, Japan education. So a lot of families did it. I know a lot of people that were in the same situation like me, parents were over here and would work and make money, and the kids were sent to Japan and grandparents.

KL: So did your father still operate his restaurant?

MN: No, no. He didn't do too well, I guess, so he became a cabinet maker, make these things [points to a piece of furniture off screen] and desks. When I went to Seattle, when I was eighteen, a man showed me the cabinet he made in hotels. He said, "Your father was the best cabinet maker. After all these years, still beautiful." My, until my father retired at forty-eight years old, he made a cabinet.

KL: Tell me about school.

MN: My school in Japan? Well, I went to a grammar school 'til sixth grade, and from seventh grade I went to, called jogakko, girls' high school, for four years. So I graduated, I was seventeen. It's an all girls' school. There's no, there's boys' school and girls' school, no co-ed.

KL: Did you live at, with your grandparents while you were in school?

MN: Yes. The school's just walking distance.

KL: Your sisters were older than you. Was it difficult for them to leave Seattle, or did they adjust to Japan okay?

MN: I guess so. I guess they did okay. So they both came to Seattle. I came to Seattle too, then came down here and got married.

KL: Were you, while you were in Japan, were you part of a church or any sports clubs?

MN: I used to go to a Buddhist church every Sunday, Sunday school. I didn't know much Buddhist, about that. No Christian school or anything.

KL: Were your parents Buddhist?

MN: Yes, they were.

KL: What was the church like? What was its role in the community?

MN: There was three, called otera, the church, same as the church but called otera. There were three in the town, and kids used to go -- there was no Christian school or anything, so Buddhist only religion we know.

KL: What was important, what were important values of that church or what were important programs that it had?

MN: I don't know. Be kind to each other, same as Christian, but they're a little bit different. They have a, we didn't have a bible and we just went, prayer was very short one, and the Sunday school teacher played organ and teach us songs. And the, called a, just like a minister but we called, used to call her Obon-san, Obon-san gave us some kind of speech, "Be good to each other, when you die you go to gokuraku." That's same as heaven. We used to go every Sunday, but we didn't learn anything. [Laughs]

KL: What was the name, tell me again the name of the town or the area where you grew up? It was in Hiroshima, but what was the name of your town?

MN: It's, Hiroshima, it's just like California and my little town's Kabe. That's where I, my parents were born and I grew up, Kabe.

KL: How do you spell Kabe?

MN: K-A-B-E.

KL: Okay.

MN: Kabe-machi.

KL: And was it mostly farms in Kabe?

MN: No, about half and half. Some farmers, but some... there was a clothing store and food store and hardware store, little stores like that in the town.

KL: Is there anything else you wanted to hear about Kabe before I ask about coming back?

WP: Did you notice at all if the town of Kabe changed throughout your childhood, from when you were young?

MN: Pardon me?

KL: I'll repeat it.

WP: Yeah, do you want to repeat?

KL: You, how long were you in Kabe?

MN: Until I was eighteen.

KL: Did it --

MN: So fifteen years.

KL: While you were living there, did it change at all?

MN: No, it didn't change much. People -- like my grandfather, he was born there and lived all his life and died -- people didn't change much in a little town. Not only Kabe, all those people just stayed there, get married and raised family.

KL: Did, was it unusual that you were there from the United States? Did people treat you and your sisters differently?

MN: Well, you see, I was only three, not even three, so I don't remember. But I hear, my grandmother tells me they tried to feed me rice, white rice, but I wouldn't eat it. So they tried everything, they put sugar in it, then they add milk in it, then I ate it. One time I kept saying, "I want apple, apple." They don't know, grandma asked my sister, "I wonder what Mitsue's saying, apple, apple." So finally they showed a banana. I said no. They showed me candy, no, I wanted apple. So finally they gave an apple, then I was satisfied. So it's, no one knew English and I didn't know any Japanese when first I went there, so it was kind of hard.

KL: Did your sisters know Japanese?

MN: Oh, yes. My, when I went there my sister, older sister was nine years old already, and next sister was six years old. No... yeah, that's right.

KL: Yeah. So you were there from about 1920 to 1937 or '8?

MN: Yes, '35.

KL: Did you notice anything, any changes in Japan at large? I mean, Japan was occupying other areas and --

MN: When I was in high school they, there was a war between China and Japan, so I remember the war, how it started and send a lot of younger men.

KL: How did it start? What do you remember about the beginnings of that?

MN: Well, China and Japan always, they never got along, I guess. They were always fighting and one day just, I guess Japanese army just attacked China or something. When I was in high school there was a war, China and Japan.

KL: Did it change anything in your life? Did you see people leave or did you have a curfew or anything?

MN: No. My little town was just the same. And after I came back to America, I went to visit Japan when I was forty-three years old, and people didn't change. Little town, peaceful.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.