<Begin Segment 11>

RP: Just another question about the Florin community, were there a number of Japanese-owned businesses in the Florin, town of Florin?

ST: Yes. Well, there were several businesses, you know, owning stores, lawyers, people like that had their own offices. And...

RP: Do you remember places that your family used to go to shop?

ST: Uh-huh. We usually made a special trip to Sacramento to shop. There wasn't much to shop in Florin. So...

RP: So that was like a trip to the big city.

ST: Yeah. Oh, it was fun.

RP: What did you, what else did you do when you went to Sacramento?

ST: Went to movies or special programs. Uh-huh. And parks. So, it opened the world for us when my brothers were able to drive.

RP: So you would go with them?

ST: Uh-huh, yeah, they were, they're kind enough to take us. Yeah, especially, I don't know if you met Dan, but he was always ready to take us anywhere we wanted to go.

RP: Did they have their own, did your brothers have their own cars or did they use your...

ST: No, they usually drove the --

RP: Dad's car.

ST: -- family car. No, my father couldn't afford too many cars. So, usually we drove, my brother drove the family car. And it, it was better for them to take us because they understand us more, you know, we want to roam around. Yeah, it's my father, he just takes us to one place. And there was a photographer, a family friend, and he would always say, "When you finish shopping, you come over here and wait for me." This photographer is a friend, so that's what we used to do. But when my brothers took us we, you know, he kind of followed us and we had more...

RP: Freedom.

ST: Freedom. That's right.

RP: "Let's go there. Let's go there. This is all so exciting."

ST: Uh-huh. Yeah. So, that was more fun. But, these were very nice people, too, so I enjoyed them, too.

RP: You told me an interesting story about working on the farm and you would take the, the grape --

ST: Oh yes.

RP: -- wood that had been cut and, and what, what was done with that?

ST: We, we picked them, put it in the box, and then we would carry it out to the side where, to the road, and then we'd get another box and fill it up again, do the same thing over again. Same thing with the strawberries.

RP: Did you have a roadside stand?

ST: Huh?

RP: Did the family have a little roadside stand where they sold fruit?

ST: Not too often. I guess they didn't care to too much. We did a few times, but...

RP: Another ritual of farm life for Japanese families was the traditional bath.

ST: Well, we just do what the parents tell us, the father tells us to do.

RP: Did you have, did you have a bath, an ofuro?

ST: The bath? The outside bath? Yes. My youngest brother, Leo and Sei, that was their job.

RP: Oh.

ST: To start a bath. It takes a little time. You have to get the brushes, start the fire and get it hot enough. It takes a little time and that was their job. And I can still see them sitting there watching the fire. [Laughs]

RP: And so what would you use for wood for the fire?

ST: Oh, the brushes?

RP: Yeah, the grapes?

ST: Yeah, the grape brushes.

RP: Oh, the grape brushes.

ST: Uh-huh, or anything. Anything that has to be burned we just throw it onto that fire. That was a good way to get rid of things, too.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.