<Begin Segment 14>

KL: I have a question from much earlier. I've never heard anyone talk about the Japanese American experience in Bakersfield, like in the '20s and stuff. What do you know about what drew your dad there and what his life was like there?

MM: You know, actually, I don't know much about his life in Bakersfield because my mother actually lived in Bakersfield. I thought she was born there, but my mother was born in Seattle. And her mother had a pool hall, and she had a lot of, I think, gambling hall. And they lived in a tough community, I think, where my mother's sisters all passed away. And I think this was when my mother was probably, after she came back from Japan, in her high school years, and she had to work, and she hated it. But that was a rough like for her, because the father was gone, her sisters had all died.

KL: She helped out in your grandmother's establishments?

MM: Yes, yes.

KL: And she talked more about being there than your dad did?

MM: Yes. I don't remember much of my father's experience in Bakersfield at all, 'cause he was born in Bakersfield. And my mother was born in Seattle, I think. I don't know. Maybe I got it mixed up, I can't remember. But my mother used to talk a lot about Bakersfield. I don't think there were many Japanese there. I mean, there were, but I don't think there was a big congregation of them.

KL: Did she talk about any other community institutions?

MM: No. I remember they used to go to Yosemite a lot, all the people from Japan went to Yosemite a lot. Richard had never been to Yosemite.

KL: We're hope Chiura Obata's granddaughter will come as a docent to Manzanar this summer, so that'll be exciting. And then one last thing, it seems like the formation of this museum and the redress campaign and Visual Communications being so close by, and the Little Tokyo revitalization, affordable housing, and the Manzanar Committee really have a lot of overlap. What if any memories do you have or involvement did you have or observations on the Manzanar Committee and the Manzanar development of pilgrimages.

MM: I wasn't involved at all. I did attend a few Manzanar pilgrimages. My late husband's aunt was really involved in the first redress group, and she went to Washington, D.C., for the signing, I mean, she was very, very active. And I went to one of the hearings in Los Angeles, the commission hearings, but other than that, I wasn't involved at all.

KL: What was the hearing like?

MM: Oh, it was really emotional. There were different people spoke about their experiences, and it was really, really emotional. You should really listen, one of the fellows, Steve Nagano, put together all the hearings. And I think the only place that was actually videoed was here in L.A., and he's got them all together. I'm trying to get it to be shown at the museum again, but he's really done a good job. So people who would never talk about it just broke down. I just went one day and it was really an experience. I think they should show it at every pilgrimage site, because that's what really brought it all on, the redress. People who had, older women, men, and they never probably talked about it to their children, but when they were interviewed, they really spoke about it.

KL: Yeah, it seems like a very different time to me, before redress.

MM: Right, right. That opened up a lot of people talking about their lives and what really happened to them.

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