Densho Digital Archive - Art Imagire Interview (denshovh-iart-01-0012)

<Begin Segment 12>

RP: So, what families did, did you socialize with?

AI: Well, like I told you, the Nishiguchis, that's the railroad family. There was a old gentleman by the name of Oshima, he owned a laundry also. And there was the Fukuis. And, oh gosh, I can't remember all the names.

RP: You mentioned a Mr. Yama...

AI: Oh, Yamagishi. Oh, he, Mr. Yamagishi was... my mother hired him as my tutor. She wanted to continue my Japanese education so he was my tutor. And like I told you, Mr. Yamagishi owned a bingo hall in partners with Bill Harrah. And I don't know the complete truth about this, but he was partners with Bill Harrah and they had, they had a bingo place, parlor that was in between Harrah's... oh, the old Harold's Club and the Nevada Club. It was a little, little dinky bingo hall. It was called Harold's Bingo at that time I think. And, the story goes is that he was in partners with Bill Harrah and when the war started, Mr. Yamagishi kind of turned over the, the part, his part of the business to Bill Harrah and Bill Harrah slipped out from under him and took everything. I don't know the true story. And when I was in Los Angeles a little while ago I was gonna talk to Tommy Ikkanda who happens to be a son-in-law, and I was gonna ask him if they know if that, if that situation was true. But I never did contact him. But Tommy is a fairly prominent leader in the, in the west Los Angeles area. I recall, I recall he and his wife were there in Reno and I don't know how, whether they relocated up there or what. But they were there for a short while and then, and moved away.

RP: You're actually, you're correct, they did relocate from Manzanar. They came from, they came from Manzanar.

AI: Oh, they did. Oh, okay.

RP: They left pretty early. I think they were up there at the end of '42 or... his wife -- and he told me this -- he said his wife had family in Reno.

AI: Yeah. Oh yeah.

RP: And so that's who it was. It was Yamagishi. Yeah.

AI: Yeah. I recalled they, they lived there for a while. But I don't know what the situation was with them, so...

RP: So you had a private tutor for your Japanese lessons.

AI: Yeah, it was --

RP: How did that work out?

AI: He got the old, I got the same old textbooks that I had in, in Oakland. And he would make me read through that and it was so boring. And I finally talked my mother into letting me quit. He would just sit there and make me read the stuff and write and write, keep writing over again.

RP: Did your mom let you quit?

AI: Yes. She finally let me quit. I think she gave up because I pestered her so much, I don't know.

RP: She relented.

AI: Yeah. But then, like my kids, I regret that I did quit that because I, my Japanese comprehension is next to zero. I know a few words, but like I say, I know enough to be dangerous.