<Begin Segment 5>

RP: How about, what was your first work experience?

KO: My first work experience was, my dad, when my grandfather got sick, my dad started the business. He set my grandfather and grandmother up with a, just a little farm, they rented a place in Thomas, Washington. And starting about, I'd say I was about nine or ten years old, I would spend the summers with them since my folks were busy, you know. But then when I was about, I guess, twelve years old, I worked for a farmer, I didn't get paid much, but weeding and maybe picking a few beans, picking a few berries.

RP: Berries.

KO: Yes, uh-huh.

RP: Where was, where was the farm located?

KO: Thomas, Washington.

RP: And where is Thomas in relationship to Seattle?

KO: It would be beyond Kent, halfway between Kent and Auburn, Washington. So, I spent my summers there, and...

RP: What was that like for you?

KO: Well, sometimes it was lonely 'til my best friend started staying with me from Seattle. He stayed about two summers.

RP: What was his name?

KO: Hank Karakomi. I remember him staying one or two summers with me.

RP: Did you have some other, other good friends that you palled around with?

KO: Yeah, in the early days. Our families are very close in those days.

RP: Did you mostly congregate with kids in your neighborhood, Kats?

KO: Yes, uh-huh. He wasn't in our neighborhood, though, see, they lived, we used to do things. We'd meet and maybe play. We had an area right by where my dad had a grocery store with an open field, and we'd make up baseball games or football games. Then a block away, probably some others have told you about it, they had a place called Dugdale. Dugdale off of Twelfth Avenue and between Yesler and Fir Street, and that's where they played the serious sports, football. But we had no equipment so we would stuff pillows in our sweaters and stuff as shoulder pads.

RP: Oh, how creative.

KO: I wasn't that good, I was a little too young yet, because I left Seattle when I was fifteen. All the big guys played the rough sport, you know.

RP: Did you play baseball too?

KO: I played some. I played mostly basketball.

RP: Did Seattle have any sort of semi-pro basketball teams?

KO: No, not really. We had what they called the Courier League, I think you've heard of it, started by this...

RP: Mr. Sakamoto?

KO: Jim Sakamoto, who was blind. He was blinded, he was boxing and got hit in the temple, and he was permanently blinded. But he started this, I think he started the JACL, but he had that newspaper, the Courier, so we called it the Courier League. And he had it for all age groups.

RP: What league were you in? I guess there was an ABC?

KO: I was in the C, 'cause we were the younger group. I left Seattle when I was fifteen so we were the younger ones. But it's... well, I guess, I see a lot of guys here that I played basketball with on the same team, you know. You're privileged to be on a good team or a bad team and I was very fortunate that I was on some of the better teams.

RP: What position did you play?

KO: I probably played forward because I was a little bit taller than most, you know. We all tend to be short.

RP: Pretty good shooter?

KO: Pardon?

RP: You were a good shooter?

KO: Okay. I handled the ball better, I think. My brother was the shooter. [Laughs]

RP: And what, was he on the next league up from you?

KO: Yes. In fact, he went to Broadway High School, it turned out. I think he made all-city the sophomore year in high school.

RP: In basketball?

KO: Yes, uh-huh. That's why everybody knows him. I've always been his kid brother.

RP: All-city, yeah.

KO: Everybody expects you to be just as good.

RP: Right. It's hard to live up to that.

KO: Well, yes, but I hung around with other guys that had the same situations.

RP: Yes. What social events do you remember attending with your family, picnics?

KO: Yes, well, we went to, all went to Japanese school, language school, the big one. I think the majority of us went there, and, after our regular school.

RP: Every day?

KO: Yeah, uh-huh, and sometimes I would skip. I think I started turning out for basketball in junior high school or middle school, I wouldn't make it there. But it was all right with my dad 'cause he was a real sportsman, like my brother. They had practice after school and games, so he no longer had to go, you know.

RP: Oh, really?

KO: But that helped me. I guess they kept track of me, I must have... 'cause when they told me to go to Fort Snelling to study, I don't recall even taking a test, they just stuck me into class, you know.

RP: You had been to Japanese school.

KO: Language, no, this was the military language school. So that's where we got a basis for our... we did speak enough and understand enough Japanese language, I think all of us did.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2007 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.