Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Hope Omachi Kawashima Interview
Narrator: Hope Omachi Kawashima
Interviewer: Kristen Luetkemeier
Location: Fresno, California
Date: September 10, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-khope-01-0016

<Begin Segment 16>

KL: You started school in Tule Lake, is that right?

HK: Well, I think it was preschool or kindergarten.

KL: What, do you have any memories of your teacher or your classmates or the room or anything? Your activities?

HK: It was just another room in a barrack, big room in a barrack. I just remember everybody sitting in a row and... I don't remember that much about it. But what I remember most was that when I had to go home, this big black dog, I don't know where the dog came from, started following me, and I was scared to death of it because it was bigger than me. And it kept following me and I started crying, and then he kept following me more. So that kind of traumatized me, so I don't care for dogs much now. [Laughs]

KL: Was that one time, or that happened numerous times?

HK: No, I remember it happened two or three days in a row or something. I didn't want to go to school because I didn't want that big black dog following me.

KL: Yeah, I don't blame you. That's scary.

HK: [Laughs] It was very scary.

KL: Did your siblings ever tell you anything about what Tule Lake was like for them, or what they, what their school experience was like there, or what it was like to have so much change in your family?

HK: Actually, (...) they're just like my parents, they don't like to talk about it. They want, just want to forget about it, 'cause it was a bad time in everybody's life. So they said why talk about it, so depressing to talk about that situation. So they just avoid talking about it, 'cause nobody wants to be reminded of it, actually.

KL: Well, so is there anything else you wanted to capture in the interview about your time at Tule Lake, before I ask you about leaving to go...

HK: I think those were my main memories of Tule Lake.

KL: Mark, did you have questions about Tule Lake? You mentioned, actually, before we started the camera, that even before you left Tule Lake it was, there were difficulties between people and it was just a tense place.

HK: Yes.

KL: Would you say, what can you tell us about that?

HK: Well, actually, apparently some people wanted to go back to Japan, and then of course people that were born here felt like they had to be loyal to (the) United States. And so there were tensions between the different groups, and we heard about fighting, people fighting. I guess it was kind of like gang fighting, among the younger men. And then also, (...) a lot of people didn't have any jobs, so they didn't really have much to do but fight with each other, so there was a lot of fighting going on. And then some people wanted to escape or get away from the place, and then if they tried to walk out of the area, out of the barbed wire fences, then one soldier actually shot one of the internees for trying to take a walk. So there was a lot of bad feelings and tensions, and people were kind of afraid of each other. They didn't know who to trust. Who can you trust? You can't trust the soldiers, you can't trust your neighbors, you never know who's on which side. This type of thing.

KL: Do you have memories of the fence? I mean, was there, did you --

HK: (Yes), I remember seeing the barbed wire fence and the watchtowers and the soldiers, and then I remember my mother telling my brother and I, "Don't go beyond the fence. Stay inside, don't go beyond the fence." 'Cause my brother was very adventurous and he wanted to explore everything, but I remember my mother always kept telling us, "Don't go beyond the fence. You might get shot."

KL: So she told you that. I mean, she... yeah, I wonder how parents would deal with that. You have to convey the importance of it.

MH: I had a question. You asked a moment ago, what was your memories of your layout of your apartment? You said there was nine of you in that apartment. Do you have recollections of how the beds were laid out or how the room was set up?

HK: Well, can you imagine sleeping nine people in this area? The beds (...) were all kind of in a row.

MH: Were there any bunk beds?

HK: No, I don't recall bunk beds. There were just these hard metal cots. Very uncomfortable. But I think we each had our own, I think we each had a cot. Maybe my youngest sister might've slept on the floor, so that she wouldn't fall off the cot.

MH: Did you have mattresses?

HK: I think we had, like, straw mattresses, mattresses made out of straw. But they didn't smell good, and they were very sticky, poky, poked you when you slept. I remember very uncomfortable. But you know, when you're young, if you're tired you go to sleep, sleep on the floor or (whatever). [Laughs]

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.