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KL: I noticed you said your parents were both musical, too. Would you tell us about that?

IT: Okay, my mother played the koto, Japanese harp, and when we were in camp my sister and I took koto lessons. And we owned two kotos. I sound like a, my accent sounded funny. Anyway, we lost them because when they packed everything my mom didn't want to go after them, when they forced us out, so we lost them. But her sister played the shamisen, the, I don't know what you call it in English.

KL: I think shamisen. [Laughs]

IT: And the, both husbands played the, what was that, the bamboo flute?

KL: The shakuhachi?

IT: Yeah, that's right, good. And my dad had a, when he died and his, my brother died too, we saw the set that he had and everything. I got one, just, I thought maybe I'd frame it or some, use it for decoration. But when I moved out here I gave it to my brother's wife to give to the kids. And I saw the little one playing it, so I thought, "Oh well." But anyway, the four of them, and there could've been a fifth, they would get together and play together, so they were quite musical.

KL: Where did they play?

IT: Just in the camp. Well, I just remember camp, and they would just get together and whoever's house and just play. So to me, it was kind of, I thought it was a nice family thing.

KL: Yeah. What are some of your earliest memories, then? Or I guess, first I should ask you when you were born.

IT: In, on May 3, '35.

KL: And do you have memories from before...

IT: Before camp?

KL: Going to Puyallup?

IT: I do remember nursery school and being sickly until I had my tonsils out. I still remember the Christmas tree when my mom, when I was kind of sick and sad, she hired a babysitter. But that was, I'd been pretty healthy since my tonsils came out and I didn't miss a day of school. And I remember being in college, going to class when it snowed, and the teacher had said to us that it was, it made her feel real good that some of us students felt that school was important enough to come through the, to school. [Laughs] And we had to take the bus, forty-five minutes one way, to University of Washington. Of course, they don't pay, we didn't pay as much as they did. The tuition was much lower.

KL: Do you remember, let's see, you were born in 1935, do you remember elementary school?

IT: Yes, and I was in the first grade... it, I don't know why I kind of remember second grade. Maybe I had started second grade. And the principal came out to Puyallup, because she felt badly we were taken in the camps, and she gave us some things, I don't remember, but it was through the fence that we had to talk to each other. And I remembered thinking, my mom said, "We're going to camp," and so I thought we were going to like a Boy Scout camp, and we had an Italian friend, his name was Joe, little guy, and I kept saying, "It's too bad Joe can't come with us." And then when we got to camp, I said, "Where are the tents?" I didn't realize what was happening, but I do remember going to a location where they picked us up.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.