Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Rokuro Kurihara Interview
Narrator: Rokuro Kurihara
Interviewer: Richard Potashin
Location: Glendale, California
Date: May 10, 2010
Densho ID: denshovh-krokuro-01-0010

<Begin Segment 10>

RP: So was, was the, was going to Manzanar... well, some people expressed that it was kind of an adventure for them to go out...

RK: It was an adventure, yeah. It was, it was pretty nice, I thought.

RP: It was like another trip up to the Eastern Sierras.

RK: Yeah, another trip. Yeah we, we were thought we were actually in camp you know. [Laughs]

RP: [Laughs]

RK: We ate together. Showered together.

RP: Oh. Did the family eat together too or did you kind of go off in your own separate...

RK: We, we normally ate together as a family. But you could go off, you know, by yourself.

RP: So, so did you, when you knew that you were going to camp, was there any anger or bitterness on the part of your brothers or your parents or yourself about, you know, "Why is this happening to us?" "What did we do?"

RK: No, there, there wasn't, in our family anyway. Because we didn't have much and we didn't lose anything. But, I guess people who lost their homes and lost their business and things like that must have. But our family... matter of fact, we were sort of glad to go.

RP: Why?

RK: Huh?

RP: Why?

RK: Another adventure. [Laughs]

RP: Break up the usual routine.

RK: Yeah, routine, yeah. As a matter of fact, the folks thought, thought it was sort of like a vacation. [Laughs] And, like, we were kids. We sort of, we sort of had fun.

RP: So, did you like working in the net factory?

RK: Yeah, sure.

RP: You made some money.

RK: Made some money. Sixteen dollars. [Laughs]

RP: Did, do you remember, did they used to play music during the day in the net factory when people were weaving the nets?

RK: Well, they, they played music, yeah. Sure they did. Sure.

RP: Yeah.

RK: But, but that was when, that only lasted a couple years.

RP: Oh, not even a year.

RK: Yeah. About a year.

RP: It was about maybe seven or eight months.

RK: Yeah.

RP: Yeah.

RK: I think something must have happened or something.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.