<Begin Segment 6>

KP: Also, did you, in and around the Japanese language school or the rest of the community, did you, did your family observe any of the traditional Japanese holidays?

TI: Yes.

KP: Could you explain a little bit about them?

TI: The... I'm not sure what those holidays were, but I know we went to the movies, the Japanese movies that came to our church as well as to the Buddhist Church. I saw those wartime films, 1937, '38, because Japan was already in China. And I remember all those "banzais that they were yelling.

KP: What did you think about that when you saw these?

TI: Well, I didn't relate to them. And then when the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred, that night, our Isseis had a meeting, and we were with our parents. And that's when I realized it may also affect us.

KP: So you considered yourself American.

TI: That was on December 7th, the night of December 7th. And so I really didn't relate to the -- except I enjoyed the movies, the chanbara, we used to call it, the old samurai movies. I enjoyed those. [Laughs]

KP: Did you celebrate Boys Day and Girls Day?

TI: Not at that time. After the war, and we got back -- we went to Japan after World War II was over and my father had died, my mother and I and my cousins went to Japan. Then we picked up some things like the doll set, we didn't have a doll set. We didn't have anything to do with that festival at all. And Boys Day we didn't celebrate prewar, until after. My mother picked up some, some of those kites, you know, the carps, large ones that were flown at my brother's nursery. My father and brother started a nursery after the war.

KP: So let's --

TI: And then New Year's Day also, that was after the war that we celebrated. And every New Year's was at my mother's until it was moved to my house. So yeah, those were good celebrations, family gatherings. But not before the war.

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