Densho Digital Archive - Kenji Ogawa Interview (denshovh-okenji

<Begin Segment 20>

KL: I know you've taken trips back to Manzanar to visit. Would you tell us what it's been like to be back at Manzanar? When did you first come back to Manzanar?

KO: That's the time I saw Dr. Bo.

KL: Oh, yeah, please tell us that story.

KO: Somebody said the first baby here, so Dr. Bo came. "Oh, you're Kenji." I don't know him. "Hey, I'm going to show you, your parents used to live." I guess he knows, he took it, and that's your parents used to live here. "Oh, yeah?" That's the first time.

KL: And where did you see him? What part of Manzanar was that?

KO: Then I guess he tell, I don't know, go to a stage. I don't like it, I'm a shy, I said, "I don't want to go," so I took off. [Laughs] They're looking for me.

KL: Was this at a pilgrimage?

KO: Yeah. I said, "I don't want to go stage, no way." [Laughs]

KL: So did Bo babysit for you when you were a tiny baby?

KO: Uh-huh. I was a clown, too, my mom said, everybody wanted to be a baby... but Dr. Bo always babysit, take to baseball, always grabbing me, he said, "Let's go."

KL: So nobody else got to be your babysitter, just him.

KO: No, always him.

KL: You say you were a clown. How were you a clown? Did you make funny faces?

KO: I guess so. That's what my mom said, "Yeah, he was a clown." I don't know. He used to take me all over.

KL: Was that pilgrimage before Manzanar was a national park?

KO: I guess so.

KL: 2000, Alice is guessing?

Off camera: [inaudible].

KL: Okay, yeah. How did you feel being back at Manzanar in 2000?

KO: You know, to me, it's just like a same, no special to me.

KL: You had heard your parents talk a little bit about Manzanar?

KO: Yeah, yeah.

KL: Did it look or feel like you expected, or was it different? Or maybe you had no expectations.

KO: I just looking, "Oh, this is the place?" For me it's not special, nothing special.

KL: Are there any other trips back -- I love that story about your meeting Bo Sakaguchi at the cemetery. Are there any other trips back to Manzanar that have been really special?

KO: Oh, you know Brian.

RM: Maeda.

KO: Maeda. That was the last one. Anyway, somebody looking at me, you know. I tell her, "Who's that guy who's keeping, staring at me?" See, we went to same school, Uni. He's younger than me, about her age, I think. And I didn't know, since graduating, sixty year, keep staring at me. I said, "I don't know this guy." Then he just came to me, "You're Kenji, huh?" "Yeah." "Hey, I remember you. Uni, huh?" "Yeah." "We used to go, remember?" "Yeah, yeah." [Laughs] Yeah, we went to the same school. I remember him, high school. But he remembered me. His brother is really active.

KL: Yeah, his older brother is around a lot.

KO: Older brother, there's a way different gap there. Brian's still doing?

KL: He's still going, yeah. I don't know him real well, but yeah, he's still around.

KO: But he don't do Manzanar thing?

RM: He's still making movies.

KL: So you mentioned that when you met Bo at Manzanar, he wanted you go to up on stage and stuff like that. So I wondered -- this is kind of a weird... and we do the same thing, when you came and I first met you in person, Alisa was like, "This is the first baby born in Manzanar." So I wondered what -- we'll shut the window so that car is not so loud in this. So I just wondered, what is it like to be the first baby born at Manzanar?

KO: I don't know. Everybody say, "Oh, you're the famous." You know, the funny thing, it's okay, I do gardening, this house, this lady. One day he bring a book, said, "Kenji, you're the first baby born in Manzanar?" She's a Caucasian lady. "That's you, huh? Kenji Ogawa?" "Yeah, that's me." "Oh, you're the famous baby there." [Laughs] So I guess a lot of people read Farewell to Manzanar, so she said, "Oh, that's you." So she always tell all the neighbor, "Hey, this is the famous baby." She tells everybody. But you meet a lot of people, a long time you don't see it, then one... well, this week, I saw, working this friend's place, guys come in, walk in. "Hey, you're a Manzanar boy, huh?" "Yeah." "Yeah? Oh, you're born the first day?" And another thing happened to me, that was about twenty years ago, I go fishing, deep sea fishing. Well, this is not a camp, but I guess so, you know, 442? He's a Caucasian. Came to me, "Hey, you know anybody 442?" "Yeah, I know 442." He was a Texas ranger, wartime. He said he was climb the mountain, he got, whole bunch of people, they got caught. "442 people saved my life. That's why I was coming fishing. You guys, parents or anybody know, 442 know, saved my life. That's why I'm fishing today. Anything you want, I'll buy for you." "No, no, it's okay." He appreciated it. "442 saved my life," Texas ranger.