Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Masako Murakami Interview
Narrator: Masako Murakami
Interviewer: Larisa Proulx
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: November 19, 2014
Densho ID: denshovh-mmasako-01-0007

<Begin Segment 7>

LP: What about some of the religious, spiritual aspects of Tule Lake? They recently got in touch with someone whose dad was a reverend, and his dad's name's actually up on a plaque by the cross at Castle Rock, and really an interesting person, a lot of his experiences in camp he translated into helping bridge conflict between white and African American communities. And a lot of his writing is very psychological just as much as it is about religion and spirituality. What was the influence if at all of religion or spirituality on your family or at Tule Lake?

MM: I don't remember much, I don't even remember going to church, but we must have. My parents were both Buddhist. When I came out of camp, I went to the protestant church, Presbyterian church in San Francisco and I spent most of my time in high school during those days. But other than that, I don't remember much about that in camp. It's kind of a blank. I remember my mother used to go to a lot of classes, and she used to take sewing, drafting, she was busy all the time. But my father was always working, and he was... oh, my mother worked in the mess hall. And I don't know they got one, but we had a burner in the room. So she would bring home food, and she would cook herself, which was kind of nice. And my father would, because Tule Lake was a great area for hunting, and the geese, and I don't know what they're shooting, but we were at the very end of the camp, so the hunters would shoot 'em and they'd die on our side. So my father would pick it up, and my mother would make teriyaki duck or whatever for dinner at night. I remember that, we'd have to sit there and pick out all the bullets. He was probably wishing he was out there. [Laughs] But as I say, at Tule Lake, I don't remember anybody going outside the camp. I mean, there were people who really believed that all the camps were easy to get in and out of, but that's not really true. Tule lake was an entirely different camp. And I think everybody should know, to learn that they don't treat it like the incarceration was an easy thing for a lot of people. There were a lot of people whose families were divided, so much so. And I remember the teachers went back on the first ship to Japan, and some of the families did, too. It was a sad, sad day. And there were stories of people starving in Japan. If their families did own farms, they had no way to eat. So there were a lot of people who went back and then came back, too. I'm sure it was really tough for them.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2014 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.