Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Kenji Ogawa Interview
Narrator: Kenji Ogawa
Interviewer: Kristen Luetkemeier
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: May 21, 2015
Densho ID: denshovh-okenji_2-01-0010

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KL: We just took a quick break to adjust the microphone, and now we're back. So Rose reminded me that we looked at some baby pictures of you. Who took those pictures?

KO: I guess that... what's his name?

KL: Toyo Miyatake?

KO: Miyatake, yeah.

KL: Yeah. And I think we saw, I'll just point out, I think we saw some pictures of your dad from before Manzanar that were portraits from Miyatake, too. Did your parents ever talk about the Miyatake family, what they were like, or about Toyo?

KO: [Addressing person off camera] You know more them, huh?

KL: That's okay. What else did your parents tell you about their time in Manzanar?

KO: You know what happened? Is that okay to tell?

KL: Whatever you want to tell.

Off camera: You know, people are going to look at this tape, now.

KL: Yeah, I mean, you know that people might see these, but whatever you're comfortable with.

KO: I don't know. My sister born, you know MP tower, my father was so excited, he wanted to go see born, sister. They say MP shot, you know, "Don't run." He thinks my dad's going to escape or something. No, no, I'm going to see my baby daughter born. So the MP...

KL: Your dad was so excited to go see the baby that the MP shot at him?

KO: Yeah. [Laughs]

KL: So that was for you, he was going to see you?

KO: Huh? No, no, my sister. (...)

KL: Okay. Did they say anything about the MPs in Manzanar or the fence at Manzanar or the towers or anything? Did they tell you anything else that they noticed at Manzanar, any other stories of things that happened there?

KO: I guess some people talk, I think he got beat up.

KL: Your dad?

KO: No, no, not my dad, somebody. He talked a lot of things, I guess a lot of Japanese don't like it, so they beat up these Japanese, they called "dog." [Laughs]

KL: What did your parents think about that beating?

KO: He didn't like it, but he shouldn't ever talk to, you know.

KL: Your parents didn't like the man who was beaten up? Right after that man was beat up, there was a big demonstration and a couple people were shot in front of the entrance. Were your parents there, did they witness that shooting?

KO: I don't know.

KL: Did they ever talk about that night and what it was like or what they saw?

KO: No. See, my dad, I don't know, he always said to me, "When I was young, I was big," he said he had a muscle. So everybody wants to, he's the leader, the (...) "no-no" group, but my mom said, "You lost one child already. You're going to keep doing, I'm going Japan," my mom said. So he quit the group.

KL: He quit being a leader?

KO: Yeah.

KL: But he was kind of a leader in Manzanar?

KO: Yeah, everybody choose my dad to be a leader. But he did it couple months, I guess, but my mom didn't go for it. (...)

KL: No, I think he was a leader in Manzanar, and then after Kenji's sister died in (Manzanar), his mom said, "You need to stop being a leader, you're risking your other children," and so he stopped being a leader (...).

KO: Yeah. He lost the (daughter) already, so he don't want to do any of this kind of stuff.

KL: But for a few months in Manzanar, he was really a leader?

KO: Yeah. That's what my dad...

KL: You know, there's kind of a debate about whether someone should beat up someone if they're telling the FBI things or whether or not. What did your dad think about that? Did he think it was, in that situation, okay to make someone be quiet by beating them?

KO: Yeah, quiet, he'll never talk to the FBI. So after that thing happened.

KL: Do you know how, like how was your dad a leader? Did he go to meetings?

KO: I guess so. I don't know. My mom didn't like it at all.

KL: Why didn't she like it?

KO: I guess she wants to be family, you know, forget doing that.

KL: Did your parents have jobs in Manzanar?

KO: Oh, my dad was doing carpenter, help in the mess hall, cook, did a lot of things.

KL: Do you know if he worked in the mess hall in Block 14, or if it was somewhere else? There was a Mess Hall Workers Union in Manzanar. Did your parents ever talk about that, if your dad was involved?

KO: [Shakes head]

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.