<Begin Segment 14>

KL: Okay, we're just back after a quick break for UPS delivery. And when we stopped the tape I was asking how and where you spent your days at Tule Lake. It was a really crowded living space that you had. Were you outside a lot as a consequence? Or since you were little, were you close at home, or where...

HK: If the weather was good, of course, we liked to play outside. And so I remember my brother and I, we'd look for seashells and sticks and leaves. That's about all we could find (...) -- and rocks -- and then we'd bring (them) home (as) our treasures, and then my grandmother would make jewelry or pictures. She'd make all kinds of things, artistic things, out of all our little findings.

KL: Was that something she had done back at home too? Or was that new?

HK: Yes, she was very artistic, so she could make beautiful things out of just everyday things. She'd make beautiful pictures or jewelry. She was very clever that way.

KL: What, you said you have a memory, maybe, of where you lived. What part of Tule Lake did you live in, or what was what you recall of your address?

HK: Well, we were in, I think Block 21. I don't know how exactly, I was trying to look in some of these books how the barracks were numbered or -- [coughs] excuse me -- lined up.

KL: Yeah, we can, I brought a book and I saw that Saburo and Marian have a copy too, but we could look at a diagram together, if we have time. But who else was in -- do you want to take a break for water or anything?

HK: No, I'm just drinking some more water here.

KL: You know, at Manzanar, and I assume it was the same in other confinement sites, different blocks kind of had identities. Like this was the Venice block, or this was a bachelors' block, or this was a quiet block, or this was Terminal Island block or whatever. How was your, how was Block 21 characterized at Tule Lake, or who lived, were your neighbors there?

HK: I don't remember that. I think there were other families with children, but I don't recall seeing any of our relatives there.

KL: Yeah, I wanted to ask what, where your other grandparents went and your brother's, or your father's sister.

HK: They, (...) the Igarashis, I think, went to Minidoka, Idaho. 'Cause they, I think purposely, separated relatives, (and) different families. They didn't want them conspiring together. [Laughs] So I think purposely, kind of isolated everybody from people that they know or people they associated with before.

KL: How far was the Igarashis' home from where you guys were living, on the rental -- or I guess, yeah, it seems like often the assignment to camp was by geography. And sometimes people asked to go certain places or, one man at Manzanar used a fire, the address of a fire station in his sister-in-law's neighborhood so he could stay close to her. But --

HK: No, I don't think any of our other relatives were there.

KL: In Tule Lake.

HK: That I remember, because (...) the Igarashis were sent to another camp, and the Takegishis, I'm not sure where they went. So our, all our relatives, as I said, (...) were all, they purposely kind of separated us. They didn't want us to be together, I think.

KL: So you, the people who were with you in Block 21 were not your community from your grandmother's place.

HK: No, they were all strangers to us.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.