Densho Digital Archive - Alfred Miyagishima Interview (denshovh-malfred-01-0025)

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TI: That's why I was curious. So Denver was such a, a crossroads of not only the interior Japanese Americans, but then West Coast, the ones who were in camp and then resettled. And so that's why I was wondering if those different cultures, those different, sort of, backgrounds, sort of clashed. Because when you went to California, you were kind of one of, in this large group. So you were, there wasn't probably any tension. But in Denver, it was maybe a little closer in terms of the sizes. And I was wondering if, like, there was any friction between, like, the West Coast Japanese and the interior Japanese.

AM: Well, I, I can't answer that because by the time I got here, why, I've been in camp for two years, been in California another year, and I just can, since you asked, I can tell you that there's a cultural difference. But pretty soon, with all your friends and this and that, you kind of forget your cultural differences and you just accept it as things that maybe you missed out on or something like that. I didn't see anything, when I first left the camp, I came to Denver to see my sister 'cause she was already here. And I remember meeting lot of her friends, some of her friends that were living here in Colorado, and some of the friends that she had that had come from camp, other camps. I really didn't see a whole lot of difference. I used to go to the Y dances here, that used to be like a weekly thing or a monthly thing or something like that, and you get to meet some, 'cause everything, everything was stag, or women came by themselves mostly. You know, how the old Japanese camp dance thing was, very similar to that. But I really didn't notice that much difference. The only thing I noticed was the way they danced.

TI: And how was that? How were they different?

AM: Well, I think the people up here, when they went to dance, I think some of them learned how to do the proper steps, and then the people from California didn't dance properly. They had what they called the shuffle and things like that, and I think that was the difference. And so we didn't jitterbug up here. It just seemed like it was, started with the California shuffle, it wasn't exactly like a, it was like a slow jitterbug type of thing. And then when I was in camp, they used to have dance classes, and the women's P.E. teacher used to do that. So she'd want so many of the boys to come from their P.E. classes, and the girls would all have to be there. So she learned us the foxtrot and the waltz and stuff like that, and I kind of liked that. So I used to dance a lot after that. [Laughs]

TI: So today, when you think of, like, West Coast Japanese American communities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and maybe even Seattle, and then you think of the interior communities like Denver, Chicago, Salt Lake City, how would you compare the difference in terms of, do you think there's a difference between kind of the West Coast Japanese and the interior Japanese?

AM: Oh, yeah.

TI: How would you characterize that? This is interesting.

AM: Absolutely. My, my oldest sister, she's deceased now, but we used to go visit them quite often in California. But their whole life spins around a lot of Japanese things. They got the big Japanese stores there, and of course, they belong to the Buddhist temple there and lot of their friends. But at her age, she still knows a lot of Nihongo, still is able to read Nihongo. They have closer ties to things from Japan, because there's a strong, there still is a stronger culture there just merely because a lot of the Japanese companies have settled there. And they have a lot of cultural programs and things of that nature. Whereas out here, we're more Anglicized. You still have some Japanese culture like the Hanamatsuri and stuff like that, but that's our only touch with that Japanese. 'Cause my granddaughter, she dances with the Bukkyokai, and during their programs, she's one of those that dances on the stage, and she just loves it. And she's a junior in high school this year, but she's been doing it for a couple of years. She really likes it.

TI: And so when you have sort of the West Coast, which tend to be more closer to the Japanese or Japanese culture, and then the interiors who, as you say, are more Anglicized, like today, if you went to a conference or a reunion or, like, for instance, have you ever gone to a Gila River reunion or anything like that?

AM: Uh-huh.

TI: And so when you go there, how does it feel? Does it feel... how do the two cultures interact, do you think?

AM: I don't feel any different. I don't feel, when we go to, we've been to about four of 'em, I think, or so, four or five of 'em there in Las Vegas and one in Phoenix. And I meet my old friends there, and some I don't know, meet 'em and this and that. My sister, she's always been on that committee, so she's always introducing me to people that are on, her coworkers on the committees and this and that. And I really don't feel any difference cultural-wise. Because the culture doesn't really show up there. Culture seems like it shows up at your home or in the environment, and this is a different kind of environment, so it doesn't show up. Not that I notice, anyway.