<Begin Segment 8>

RP: You mentioned some Terminal Island friends. What was your perspective on that group, at Terminal Island kids, some people refer to them as the yogores. What, is that reputation deserved or not?

MI: Well, there's many ways of looking at that. Fishermens are a very rugged individual and so is their language. And I remember when I first heard even a little youngster talking Japanese, I was, I just about was floored by their language. It was not the kind that I was raised up in. But they... you know when you get to know them or understand, they're really nice. But there's a sort of an old Japanese male chauvinist kind of a thing going on. Oh, I guess maybe that's why my mother would not let me date any of those guys. And they did have a reputation of being pretty rough and tumble. But then see, we thought that way, but they were great. It was a bravado. You know, say, "Oh yeah, we're a bunch of yogores." Yogores meaning "dirty bunch," right? So anyhow, I remember when I was asked to go on a date and my mother asked me who I was going with. I said, "Oh he's a yogores from Terminal Island." She would not have it. I think it was the name. It sure sounded pretty, you know.

RP: Even if you don't know what it means in Japanese it still sounds...

MI: It sounds very, yeah, you know... oh well. But gee, some of my best friends are from Terminal Island, so you can't judge 'em all that way.

RP: So, Nori Iwasaki, was he one of the guys you hung out with?

MI: Yeah, he was, but there was a Terminal Island group that was very more finesse. They're the Terminal Island people who were very rough and tumble. Nori, Fumio and some of those others are not that way. So you can't put 'em all in one bundle.

RP: It's stereotyping.

MI: Yeah, stereotype.

RP: What was dating like at Manzanar?

MI: Dating?

RP: Yeah.

MI: Well, I guess everybody knew who everybody else was dating because it would come out in the Free Press. So it was always, at the dance, I go, "Oh god, here I go." It was a very innocent period then. It's not like today. You know, kids today will go run off some place. But no, that was just a no-no. You don't do that. I'm pretty sure it's a hundred percent. Maybe ninety percent or ninety-nine percent. But still, that was not considered proper. You went to the dance, you had your fun, and you came home. And the boys always took you home and that was it.

RP: And all dates were cleared with Mom?

MI: I don't know, but with mine it had to be. My mother gave them the third degree. She would look 'em up and down saying, hmm, you know. But that's good. I, at the time, I thought, gosh. But, see, you don't appreciate that was a concern of a mother. And so, you know, it's no different than what I'm doing with my own kids. So, it's interesting.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.