<Begin Segment 7>

LP: Did your parents have any religious background that you were aware of growing up? Were they Buddhist?

EY: No. At the time I was growing up, let's see, while in Seattle, I think my mom went to, they call it Tenrikyo, it's a take off of the Buddhist religion, not the Jodo Shinshu like it's over here, it's a branch, just like, I guess, Presbyterian, Baptist and all that. Tenrikyo, I don't know, a different way of doing things.

LP: Did your dad identify that as well, or is that where your mom...

EY: She never talked about it. And I don't remember that he ever went. It was the three kids, and occasionally my mom would go with just the three of us. Then one time I think I rebelled or something and my friend, she was, where was she? She was a fair-skinned girl, she said, "Well, why don't you come to my church and see?" So I went to a Christian church, said, "Hey, this is pretty nice." I think I remember going there a couple of times, and they had the Bible. All these things I've never thought about before, it's all coming back.

LP: What about, was there any sort of special occasions or anything that your family intended to celebrate, thinking about the beginning, during the Depression, rationing things and being very frugal and whatnot. Did your family tend to recognize birthdays or were there any holidays that they...

EY: No, nothing like that. In fact, I think after I got married and had children of our own, then I realized too that people do this, and I was unaware that they really made a big to-do about it. Because my folks never did. In fact, as I'm talking, I can just see my oldest daughter, she said, "You know, Mom, you don't love us." And I said, "Why? Because we provide for you." But her remark was, gee, most of her friends' parents, they come and hug you, and they kiss the children, "You never do that." Well, I grew up knowing, not knowing that. It never dawned on me because I was never exposed to it. But that was a rude awakening when she said, "You don't love us." [Laughs] Because we never were very demonstrative.

LP: Did she understand, have you shared with her some of your family emotion and attitude toward all of that? Did she understand it?

EY: She finally did. But it took her some time, the fact that, "All you have to do is extend your arms, Mom," kind of a thing, which is true. That's all I needed, but I didn't know any different, because my girlfriends were the same way. Her parents never did that. Maybe it was part of the culture, I don't know. Maybe my parents never did that, so maybe they didn't know any different either.

LP: Yeah. There are people in my family, too, that are the same way, or they know they were really sensitive, and so they kind of...

EY: That's right, because some people, even today, I find out that some people, they don't like to be touched, so there's that, too. But I think we're... I don't care how old you are, we're always getting educated for something. [Laughs]

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2015 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.