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TI: And so with all those families, you mentioned every once in a while you would have maybe an outing, like a picnic or something.

GS: Oh, yeah, picnic.

TI: Tell me about that, I want to hear about those. Where, like where would you have the picnic?

GS: Either Riverside or San Bernardino. Sometimes, various holidays, I guess, they would have it, and we would all meet at Dorset Park and have a picnic or something like that. Or we have baseball games, we'd go meet, Riverside we'd play against, so everybody in Riverside would come down and we would go, go, and Redlands would come over and we'd have a regular baseball meet.

TI: Going back to the picnics, what would be some of the foods that people would bring to these, these events?

GS: Oh, everybody would, the made sushi then, and stuff like that. And the inari, what do you call it, various Japanese dishes. Everybody would, each family would bring something, and so they had all together.

TI: And would people, would it be more family-style where everyone would eat from a large table.

GS: Yes. Dishes, everybody go pick this part up and then each, all the different dishes were put down, and then everybody would go up and pick so much in a plate and stuff like that.

TI: So in addition to baseball, what other games would people play at these picnics?

GS: Mostly baseball and kendo, and there was judo, too, but I never went into judo. Some of the others did, 'cause mostly in Pomona area, the kendo teacher, I mean, judo instructor lived in Pomona. He would come around once, once a month or something and we'd have a judo or kendo thing, functions going.

TI: And how about church? Did your family attend church?

GS: There was no Buddhist church, so we went to San Bernardino. San Bernardino had a Japanese Christian church in San Bernardino. We left, catch the streetcar and go across the railroad tracks, and the church was on the other side. And also the Japanese school was there, too, so that's where we all congregated, at the Japanese school, church, for school and church and whatever.

TI: So that was a real hub for the Japanese community, San Bernardino where they had the language school, the church, lots of things.

GS: Everything was happening in San Bernardino.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.