<Begin Segment 8>

KL: Did they say what it was like to prepare to go to Manzanar, to get rid of that car? What did they tell you about that time?

KO: I guess a lot of times they don't know what's go on, what happened, you know, over there at Manzanar.

KL: Do you know who bought the car from your dad?

KO: He said he had to give it away. Lot of people just give it away. You don't have time to buy it. Only two suitcase, one suitcase.

KL: What you could carry, for most people.

KO: Yeah.

KL: Where did they leave from to go to Manzanar? You said they took the train?

KO: Yeah, Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights, took the train.

Off camera: They lived in Boyle Heights so then they would meet, I think at Nishi Hongwanji.

KO: Yeah, all the people meet over there. Old temple, that corner one.

KL: That makes perfect sense and I'd never heard a story like that before of the disguise that your mom, cutting her hair and trying to hide her pregnancy and stuff.

KO: Because they don't know what's hospital over there.

KL: Do you know if she got any medical care before she left? Was she seeing a doctor in Boyle Heights, in L.A.?

KO: I guess so. You know, Dr. Hanaoka, I think.

KL: Who was Dr. Hanaoka?

KO: He was a doctor, my mother's. Then me, too, camp.

KL: Did she ever tell you what it was like to be pregnant with you before she had to go to Manzanar, like why she wanted a child?

KO: She was scared, you know. That's why she said, "You born on the train, I'm going to dump it," because they figured no hospital or nothing, you're not going to survive.

KL: Did they have friends that they went to Manzanar with, that knew her already? Or she was able to hide from...

KO: Yeah, she had to hide. So I guess she don't know nobody.

KL: I mean, she probably had a very different idea of what it would be like to be pregnant and have a baby then what ended up happening. Did she ever tell you what her first idea was, what she thought it would be like to have a baby in Boyle Heights?

KO: No, she never said. But she said at Manzanar it was windy, you know, sandy, used to cover face. Because half an hour, it was all sandy, face. They said you went over there, no privacy, bathroom.

KL: Did they tell you what they did first when they got to Manzanar, what the first day there was like?

KO: I guess you're living so many family, open. It was not a pleasure to go, live in. I guess slowly the carpenter, everybody, you know, make it private.

KL: Do you know when they arrived in Manzanar, what date?

KO: No.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.