Densho Digital Archive - Yukiko Miyahara Interview (denshovh-myukiko

<Begin Segment 13>

KP: So do you remember the month you arrived in Tule Lake?

YM: Yeah, it was October.

KP: You always seemed to get places in October.

YM: Yeah, it seemed like October.

KP: And was, what was Tule Lake like when you got there?

YM: It was, you know, it was like moving into a regular barrack that we were used to. So, it wasn't that bad, you know. But, my aunt and uncle, we got adjoining (room) and we cut a hole in it and we, so we could go into my aunt's and uncle's room whenever they needed help.

KP: And your uncle was quite sick at this time?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: Was the food better at Tule Lake?

YM: It was...

KP: About the same?

YM: It was okay, I guess.

KP: What about, what about the weather?

YM: Tule Lake was really cold in the wintertime. We had a little bit of snow but not enough to really call it a snowstorm. But it was cold enough to make an ice rink. And so my, my husband was a block manager and we had a open space next to our barrack so they made a big ice rink. And they all skated out there. And I don't know whose ice skate he wore but he had an ice skate to skate with and he learned by pushing a chair.

KP: Well, when Tule... when you came to Tule Lake, it was a segregation center. And there was a lot of conflict still there.

YM: Yeah I know, there was a lot of people that was pro, what do you call it? Pro-Japanese, but we weren't involved in that. And our, our friends were mostly like us. They didn't belong to that group. We had a few friends that was really for Japan, just like my brother-in-law. But, it didn't bother us. We just did our own stuff and if they wanted to go, they go. So we had a couple of friends and his sister was determined to go back. So, she went to back and they were sorry that they went back. But, you know, they came back. They were allowed to come back, so I forgot what year they came back. In the '50s, I think.

KP: So your uncle passed away with, when, when? What time of year?

YM: April, April 4, '44. Four, four, four. Exactly two years from the day we went in camp he was taken in a coffin, two years later to the day.

KP: And your parents came up for the funeral?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: What, what kind of funeral was it?

YM: It was a... [Holds up a photo]

KP: Hold it out there for Richard can get it. Looks like there's quite a bit of a turnout?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: And you said just around this, this time, your husband decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to go back to Japan?

YM: Uh-huh.

KP: And what did, when was your second child born?

YM: January 30, 1945. So she was thirteen months old when we left camp.