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KL: What do you, did she ever talk about what drew her to him or what...

IT: No, I don't.

KL: Why they decided to marry? What was their relationship like when you knew them, as a little kid? How did you...

IT: Well, I remembered my mom -- well now, wait a minute. This is, sometimes my mind skips after the war. But okay, he used to take us to the public library, and we checked out three books, we went once a week, and I thought the librarian was gonna get mad if I didn't read the three books, so I was a pretty good reader in first grade. And...

KL: Did the librarian take an interest in you when you would go in? what do you remember about the Seattle library?

IT: I don't remember too much except just going there, and I was so glad he took us. She must've helped us find books that I could read, because I remember I could read the books when I got home. And my dad was quite a sportsman, so he'd go fishing on, sometimes on Sunday, and I do remember my mom getting mad at him, saying, "And you'd have to kill the fish on Sunday." [Laughs] And she was more, they sent us to the Buddhist church. She didn't take us, though. She might've once in a while, but she had an adult pick us up and we went to the Buddhist church. But my mother was quite religious, and her mother used to scold us, because when we were in Puyallup this gal would come by and gather everybody for Sunday school, and she was Baptist, and my grandma I remember getting mad at us for going there. Well, we didn't know. Of course, that was a short thing. [Laughs]

KL: She thought you should stay Buddhist only?

IT: Yeah. And you know, it didn't make any impression on us one way or the other, but we were, we went to church every Sunday, and so I think my mother was more on the religious side.

KL: How did she practice religion, if she wasn't, she didn't go with you guys to a congregation?

IT: She might have gone, but I know after the war, on Sundays she went three times. She went to the Sunday school service, the young adults, and the Japanese service. So she was quite religious, but I guess having a mother like she had, my grandmother, she couldn't escape it. [Laughs] But the whole family was Buddhist.

KL: Your dad also?

IT: He, yeah, he went. But it was so sad because he lost so much when we were in Puyallup and he was hammering the crates. He didn't, really didn't get much help. But when we went from Puyallup to Minidoka, and of course we were told nothing, we just got on the train and they pulled the shades, my dad and my father were on the hospital train because of his stroke. And my mom had a bad heart and she had high blood pressure. And my uncle had, I don't know, on this trip if he, I think he had four kids and we had three, he took care of all of us because, you know, we had a room near the dipper and they gave us the wrong room for a family of five, it was really supposed to be for a couple.

KL: This is in Minidoka?

IT: Yeah -- no, Puyallup. So we had to have two double beds from wall to wall, and if one of us wet the bed, then it just, course they had to change everything. But anyway, I can't remember if, they might've moved us. Anyway, they had to make hot water -- I don't know how she had, she must've packed it, a burner, a small one, and she had a basin on there warming up hot water, and she had a bucket with water on the side. I guess she went after water to... and it was on an apple or orange crate, wood. My brother, who's two years older, was chasing me, I went back, sat on that hot stove, and the basin, I don't know if it went into the bucket or anything, but I got burned on my seat. So when we went to Minidoka, I remembered my uncle had to help me go to the bathroom. Felt like a dog. [Laughs]

KL: Were you, did that happen, the burning happen in Puyallup?

IT: Yeah. Because we had, we were in such a crowded space and we, we had to make use of everything. So, like the box had to, and my mother had it in, kind of in the middle of the floor, so we were running around of course and I backed up and sat on it. And then the whole neighborhood would come and look when they treated me. I don't know if they, it felt like they were peeling something, but I don't know.

KL: Where did you get the treatment?

IT: I don't even remember going to a hospital, but I must have. They wouldn't, it must've been something, they must've had some kind of first aid or something over there. I don't know.

KL: Yeah, I don't know the specifics either.

IT: I have no idea, but I do remember them putting bandage, big pieces. And now I laugh about it. It's like I had one of those target things. [Laughs] But I know I went to, my uncle had to take care of us, and I felt sorry for him, but, and very grateful by the time I was old enough to realize how much they were helping us.

KL: This is your mom's brother, I guess, 'cause your father was the only --

IT: Brother-in-law.

KL: Okay.

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