Densho Digital Archive - Ko Nishimura Interview (denshovh-nko-01-0012)

<Begin Segment 12>

KL: So your good friends were still Gary and George. What were the three of you like? Did you play any pranks or were you pretty respectful?

KN: Well we played a lot of cowboys and Indians and guns and stuff. We shot a lot of marbles. We got to be a pretty good marble player. Lot of time, right, so we played marbles. So that's what I remember. So it seemed like the days were really long. The kids today, days are short, and our days, summertime, one day was a long time. I guess we're in camp, too.

KL: Yeah, well, summer days there are long in the Owens Valley.

KN: Yeah, and I still remember that. Because of the barracks, there's a road, a permanent road around the camp, right? And across the street, we used to grow watermelons in the summer. And my dad said, "Somebody's stealing a watermelon." So we stayed out there one night. And the cops were stealing it. You know, they were Japanese cops can stop by, my dad goes, "Aha."

KL: He confronted them? What did they say?

KN: They're just laughing. And, of course, "Why don't you ask? I would have given them to you." So he wasn't mad at 'em, they were just laughing.

KL: There's two other people who have told me that they stole watermelon, a guy named George Oda who was like twenty, I don't remember what block George lived in. And then Robert Kame, Robert Kame talked about either stealing or having watermelons, he's from West L.A., he's a couple years older than you.

KN: I mean, there was a lot of people stealing watermelon.

KL: But in your case it was internal security.

KN: The guy actually stopped his police car, and looked around and picked it up, soon as he picked up and started walking back, my dad goes, "Aha."

KL: And you helped with the stakeout, you were there?

KN: Well, it's sort of fun, it's warm at Manzanar during the summer, you're in your t-shirt. It doesn't get cold out there. That was when I was probably five or so, he remembered that.

KL: Do you remember the guy's name?

KN: No. But my dad's laughing and he's laughing away, so it was almost like nobody cared.

KL: Yeah. Did the thefts stop after that?

KN: Well, no, because actually the guys who stopped by and said, "I'm going to take one of your watermelons." It was no longer theft, he'll come during the day. [Laughs] Why come during the night when you can get it during the day?

KL: Yeah.

KN: "Can I have a watermelon?" "Sure, how many you want? Take two of them."

KL: That's fun.

KN: So he'd take it home, you know. "Can I take one to my brother?" "Sure."

KL: Did you guys grow anything other than watermelons in that patch?

KN: My grandmother might have grown eggplants and stuff, the Japanese eggplants and cucumbers, and made Japanese pickles out of it. Because I remember we were eating those things, they were really good. And so, yeah, we grew other things.

KL: Do you have any other memories of nighttime at Manzanar besides that stakeout? What were nights like?

KN: Yeah, I have one other one, it's more eerie. At nighttime I could see the flashlights come and go by through the windows of the barrack, the side, they'd come around scanning this way. So if you wake up you could see the shadow of the searchlight coming through. That's the one thing I remember.

KL: From up on the tower?

KN: Yeah.

KL: How'd you feel about that?

KN: Well, you don't think much about it. Even as a kid you feel uneasy about it because you feel like you're under surveillance more or less. You're being watched, right? And nobody else would be shining a searchlight on your house, right? And my grandmother probably wouldn't have bothered me, she didn't like it, I don't think, but she never said anything.

KL: You could sense from her behavior that...

KN: Because I'd say to her, in Japanese, I'd say, "It sort of feels weird when the searchlight light comes through." She wouldn't usually comment, but she remained silent, which is a sign of disapproval, right? But she never said anything, so I don't know. I presume she didn't care for it.