<Begin Segment 8>

RP: So you were out... your older brothers kind of took care of the rest of the kids while the parents were at work?

SI: Oh yeah, yeah. My oldest brother was pretty good at, you know... he used to cook for us. But we used to take turns making rice and, but as far as the dishes, my oldest brother used to make like hamburger, hamburger okazu and spaghetti. The only thing I can remember was Dad and spaghetti and weenie...

RP: American food.

SI: Yeah, right.

RP: Did you say your brother was a fisherman at that time?

SI: The oldest brother, no, he was still going to school then. But summertime he used to go, go on a boat and did some fishing.

RP: Did you ever go out on a boat?

SI: Oh, yeah.

RP: Tell us about it. Tell us about your, your...

SI: Well, on a jig boat we used to go on... during the summertime, barracuda used to run. And used to go fishin' over, down what they call kelp, horseshoe kelp. [Coughs] Excuse me. And then, then we used to fish over there. Get up 4 o'clock in the morning and fish. Then gotta come back before ten anyway.

RP: And, just barracuda huh?

SI: Yeah. [Coughs.] Excuse me. But my second brother never, I don't think he ever went fishing. He was kinda like, not weak, but he used to get carsick. And maybe, I guess he was, he must have been afraid of he might get seasick. I actually get seasick once in a while but, it was okay.

RP: You mentioned baseball, the Skippers. Did you also play baseball at school and...

SI: Yeah, we did. And with the younger crowd we used to play... there was, there must have been at least about a half a dozen teams that we used to play against. That was mostly the only... never played football though. Mostly just baseball.

RP: Now, your father's barbershop was the only barbershop on the island?

SI: Oh, no. There was him... there was one on upper Tuna Street and one over there so there must have been two more others, yeah.

RP: So, you lived behind the barbershop?

SI: Yeah. Right. Our house... the property was the, the cannery used to own that property. But the house, from what I can recall, was our own. And I think, I might have been mistaken, but after the war I think she received two thousand dollars for the house or something like that. Anyway...

RP: Who? Your... who received the two thousand dollars?

SI: That I don't know. But the house wasn't there anymore.

RP: So how often would you go across on the ferry to San Pedro as a kid?

SI: What do you mean how often? Every day, it was school days.

RP: Well, when you went to junior high school.

SI: Right. Monday through Friday, yeah.

RP: Uh-huh. And where did you go to school there?

SI: I went to Richard Henry Dana Junior High School. And my brother went to San Pedro High School, two of my brothers.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.