<Begin Segment 8>

KL: How long were you in Crystal City?

MS: I think it was a year and a half. It was a year and a half. And my husband was three years in Minidoka, that was a long time.

KL: Yeah.

MS: Three years, yeah.

KL: Do you remember the boat ride to Crystal City?

MS: Oh, yes, we went to... we went to, can't even remember the airport, New Orleans. Yeah, we went to New Orleans, oh boy, I got sick on the ocean, and then they were boiling egg, oh, that smells so bad.

KL: On the ship?

MS: Yeah, for breakfast, and I have to go in the bathroom. And here comes an American to help me, because I couldn't even stand up, I have to stay in the bathroom and throw up. And that smell, the egg, oh, I never forget that one. And she said to me, "You better go and eat something," and I said, "No, don't feel like to eat boiled eggs." Oh, it was bad. And the ocean was like this. I never forget that one, it was bad. And finally we arrived in, what was the airport in Japan? Oh, I forgot.

KL: You said you arrived in New Orleans for Crystal City.

MS: Yeah. And then when we arrived in Japan, I said, "Oh, my goodness," so they checked everything, you know, everything, the clothing in the suitcase, whatever you had. But we were kind of happy because no more eggs. Oh, it was bad, honest.

KL: Do you still dislike eggs?

MS: No, now I'm okay. He won't eat eggs. [Laughs]

KL: What was your, what was Crystal City like? Where did you live when you were in Crystal City?

MS: It's in a camp, was a great, great big camp that had a wire all around the camp, and find out they have a, we had an Italian family, German family and Japanese family, but it's a different section. And I never seen people... with the Japanese, we were just the Japanese. Now, the funny part was Japanese born in South America, and Japanese born in the United States, so one speak English and the other one speaks Spanish. So they couldn't figure out, sometimes, their language, communicate. So we had to use hands and everything else, well, I think we did pretty good. And then we used to play, well, the boys used to play baseball, basketball, they had a swimming pool, and we have a staging place to dance and all that. We have school, so I think we did pretty good, because mixed the Japanese born in South America and born in United States, and we did pretty good, and we had good teachers, too. So I think we did pretty good in Crystal City.

KL: What was the school like, was it in a barrack?

MS: It's not a barrack, just a regular building, different section, the grades and all of that. So that was good.

KL: Is that where you learned English?

MS: Yes.

KL: What was that like? Was it difficult?

MS: It's kind of hard. Even now, I don't understand that. And then when I went back to Japan, I was in Tokyo and I got a job at IBM. It was a building, there was IBM section, and I used to type, I learned, and the last one was a secretary. But, see, the secretary over there and over here is different. Over here is more, it's harder than Japan. And I used to have a lady, she was real nice, from Utah, she was Mormon, and she used to help me. She invited me one day to her house, and they don't drink coffee, they give me, it was tea, I guess. But anyway, I had a good time with that lady, I still remember, she was from Utah.

KL: Did you meet her in Japan?

MS: Yes, she was in Tokyo working for the Air Force. And I worked for the Air Force, United States Air Force.

KL: When you first learned English, did your teacher teach you English or did she just start talking in English?

MS: No, we just had to learn. It was hard, because the pronunciation is not easy. See, that's why I didn't, I goofed, I didn't teach Joey and Sum to learn English first. Because the accent is different, Spanish and Japanese, but you can't do that, you have to teach them when they're small, the English, too.

KL: It's easier.

MS: They don't know English, I mean, they don't know Japanese and Spanish. The only one he knows in Japanese is, "Let's go fishing." When I went to Japan, he loved to go fishing, so he told my brother, called his brother Luis, I think, "Let's go fishing," in Japanese. [Laughs] So you have to teach them when they're small, it'll make a difference on the accent. I goofed.

KL: So you said you became friends with some of the other kids in Crystal City?

MS: Oh, yes, we have all different kinds... well, I don't know how many they were going to, that was kind of sad.

KL: Did you ever leave the camp in Crystal City, did you go...

MS: Oh no, you cannot, because there were, and the wire, they have that small house, and there was a soldier with his rifle, so you have to stay inside the camp. You cannot go. Not like my husband, they used to go out, he said, and help doing some work outside. See, that's the difference, the camp, we have to stay inside the camp.

KL: Are there other places in the camp, you remember the swimming pool and the school in your house?

MS: No, that's the only one that I remember. But we cannot move, see, we have to stay in our own camp. I'm pretty sure they have, I don't know, maybe not. But we were lucky because they treat us good.

KL: The guards or the staff?

MS: Yes, the staff. And they had a, the Japanese people had to cook and deliver to us the food and all of that. So they were nice to us, the camp.

KL: Did they bring the food to your home, was there a mess hall?

MS: You, they deliver or you could go to eat, either way. Because we live in, like a barracks, you know, and we had a stove, wood stove and all of that. So it was different, either you go over there and eat or just stay home or whatever. So they treat us good.

KL: Did you speak or become friends with anyone on the staff?

MS: No, I didn't have a chance because their stuff, most of their work in the kitchen, they were all Japanese most of them. I don't remember any Americans.

KL: Were they prisoners, too, the people in the kitchen?

MS: Oh, yeah, the same over there, yeah.

KL: And they're the ones who were nice to you?

MS: Yeah, they're all nice. Because, see, you stay over there a year and a half, you become better friends, so that was nice. But I think there's a lot of them, they die already. Because they were a lot older than we are. See, we were about eleven, twelve years, the other one was twenty or twenty-five, thirty, much older than we were. Lots of them there are gone, too.

KL: What was it like to see your father again?

MS: Oh, that was nice, that was nice.

KL: How did you greet each other?

MS: Oh, forgot, but happy. [Laughs] So that was nice.

KL: Did he talk about Santa Fe or about Kenedy?

MS: Not really. I guess they don't really talk, I guess, I don't know. Maybe they had a not so good time, I have no idea. And I think that place was just for men, probably, just the father. I have no idea how their life was over there.

KL: Did he seem different to you than when you knew him in Trujillo?

MS: No, I don't think so. He's more kind of a quiet type person. No, about the same, I guess.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.