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AL: Okay, so you were born in 1932. So you had quite a range of ages in your family. And when you were, when you were growing up, what are some of your early memories? I mean, can you think back of your earliest childhood memory?

SK: We, the folks, my parents moved to Winslow just before I was born. And so I grew up in Winslow. And then, and my parents bought a house there. And that was the first house that they bought and it was the, and they fixed it up so that it was, it accommodated all, all eight of us. And then, yeah, and then my dad farmed it there and then he eventually began to lease land.

AL: Okay. And where did you go to school?

SK: I went to Lincoln grade school. I went to McDonald school in Port Blakeley for kindergarten and then first through fourth I was at Lincoln grade school in Winslow. And then the war started so we shipped off to Manzanar.

AL: How would you describe the community on Bainbridge Island at that time, as far as the Japanese American community and the other ethnic communities that were on the island, what was it like as a community?

SK: It was a real community because the Japanese lived in different places on the island, okay, 'cause they had, were farming and they, they either leased land or bought land and lived where they farmed. And so they were among most of the Caucasians on the island. And so the kids all grew up knowing English and of course we were, we were told that we had to learn English and so my, my parents were very, very good about that. But we also went to Japanese school. And my mother was very determined that we learn Japanese.

AL: Did your parents speak Japanese at home or English?

SK: Yes, they spoke a lot, mostly Japanese.

AL: Could they speak English also?

SK: They, my mother learned to speak English more than my dad because my dad was very hard of hearing.

AL: What was your family's cultural background in terms of, you know, religion and any kind of observances, like did you celebrate Girl's Day, and Boy's Day, the Emperor's birthday?

SK: We were, my parents were Buddhists and so they would celebrate certain things, Boy's and Girl's Day and so forth. But we took on much of the American ways. I think it was because my parents felt that we should be very American, too.

AL: Did your parents ever go back to Japan before the war?

SK: No, they didn't. They wanted to go back but they never had time or could afford it.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2008 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.