<Begin Segment 23>

RP: Just a few more questions about camp and then we'll kind of move on to coming back to Venice. Two very, kind of, well, humiliating and sometimes disgusting parts of camp life were the latrines and sometimes the mess hall. So maybe you can share your stories or recollections about the latrines, going to them, and your feelings about that. You had no partitions.

KT: That's what I remember about the mess hall, is no partitions.

NN: You mean the --

KT: Not the mess hall, the washrooms.

AF: Well, I was so young that I didn't mind. I just accommodated myself and got used to it. But for teenagers, young teenagers --

NN: Taking a shower, too, was something I would imagine...

AF: Oh, yeah, that's right, taking a shower. There was no partition.

NN: Because being Asian, I think we're a little bit more inhibited about that type of thing, I would think.

AF: That's true.

RP: How about the mess halls? Do you remember a favorite food or the most disgusting food you ever ate there?

KT: There was something that they served us three times a day. What was that? Weenies?

NN: Really?

AF: "Again?" they used to say.

NN: Oh, really?

KT: It seemed like three times a day. I'm trying to remember what it was. Isn't that funny how I forget?

RP: Apple butter?

AF: Oh, yeah, apple butter, yeah. [Laughs] Although I didn't mind it too much, 'cause we never had apple butter at home.

RP: That was the first time you'd ever had it?

AF: Yeah, I think so.

KT: That's right, apple butter.

AF: I sort of liked it, in fact.

RP: Do you remember getting Japanese food at all in the mess hall? I think special occasions --

AF: I think later on they must have had rice.

RP: Yeah, they had rice.

AF: But I remember older people complaining they didn't get rice.

NN: Oh, really? There was this man that worked in the kitchen, an Issei man. And I remember he must have gotten grease from the cooking, and he made soap. Do you remember?

AF: Oh, yeah, Tanaka.

NN: I don't know what his name was.

AF: Yeah, I think it was Mr. Tanaka.

NN: But he would bring chunks of soap to the house.

KT: I don't remember.

NN: But I remember he worked in the kitchen. I thought, "Oh, that's interesting."

RP: That's a far cry from some of the other Issei cooks who made sake.

NN: [Laughs] That's right.

AF: I used to hear about that, too.

RP: Soap? I never heard that.

AF: Shochu, huh?

RP: They would just distribute it to folks in the block?

NN: No, he just made a few, I think, just a few bars. And I remember, I remember him bringing that soap over.

RP: Do you know, do either of you recall anything about the block manager in Block 14?

AF: I don't know who it was, but we had block managers. They used to change periodically, so I can't remember which one it was.

KT: I don't remember the block manager.

AF: Well, I don't remember specific ones, but I know we had one block manager. Every block had a manager.

NN: We had some interesting people in the...

RP: In Block 14?

NN: ...in our block. I don't know if I mentioned it on tape already not, I think I indicated out there, there was that lady that had, her son was a priest.

AF: Oh, yeah.

NN: And her daughter was a nun. I don't remember their names, but I thought that was so different.

AF: That's right, uh-huh. In fact, he was my teacher.

NN: I believe they were across from us.

AF: Yeah, yeah, in fact, he was my sixth grade teacher.

NN: Oh, really?

AF: Yeah, Murakami.

NN: He's the...

AF: He was a priest.

NN: He was a priest?

AF: He was not a priest at that time, but I think he became a priest afterwards.

NN: Murakami was his name.

AF: Uh-huh, Murkami.

RP: Any other interesting personalities?

NN: Let's see... I guess that's about it that stands out.

<End Segment 23> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.