<Begin Segment 13>

KL: This is tape two of a continuing interview with Masako Yoshida, and it's August 14, 2014. And we were talking about Poston, and you were gonna tell us things that you liked and things that you didn't like about Poston.

MY: Okay, the main thing that I did not like were the bathroom facilities. It's just horrible to try to sit with, I think there were about eight toilet seats in the room.

KL: Would you describe what the bathroom was like? When you walk in the door, walk around and tell us what you would see.

MY: Oh, you walk and the toilets are there, the commodes, and then the shower is you go through another door, and all the showerheads were around the edges. And I think there were about eight or so. I have some diagrams, you must have some diagrams of the thing. And then you know, you just don't feel comfortable sitting in front of everybody. I don't know how we did it. And the bathroom and showers, the older folks, I know, were very, they would just face the wall and it was very difficult for them, because they're not used to exposing themselves. Now you just think nothing of it, I guess, the kids are always exposing themselves. You know, they see those movies stars and everything exposing everything. So I guess to them, now, it's nothing. And then there was a trough or whatever you call it to brush your teeth, because there were no water facilities in any of the cabins, just a faucet at the end of each cabin of four rooms, four family rooms. It just, you just didn't have the facilities that you would have in a home that makes life more comfortable. That's what I did not like about it. And I did not like the sandstorms, but other than that, we started to live a pretty normal life because we had, we became teams of certain areas to play baseball and basketball, and we were always the champs. We were the Hollywood Stars in Poston, and we had the best pitcher in town, so we would win. Then we had camp dances in the mess halls, and other than that, I was only in camp for one year.

KL: What was your address in Poston?

MY: 36-5-A.

KL: Was that in Poston I, II or III?

MY: One.

KL: There was an event in November of 1942, someone who was, who other people thought was an informer was beaten up, and then there was a strike called.

MY: Wasn't that in Manzanar?

KL: Well, similar things happened in Manzanar, but also at Poston there was a beating in November, and then there was a strike for a week in Camp I. So you recall that at all?

MY: Gee, I don't recall that.

KL: It was a big place.

MY: In Poston I? Gee, I don't remember that.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.