Densho Digital Archive - Ann Sugimoto Interview (denshovh-sann-01-0030)

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RP: So you were left, you were left at Manzanar by yourself, with your child for...

AS: Yeah, it was nice that all the Japanese people supported, and good medical and all that, but everybody was so nice.

RP: You said that you wanted to go out but you got some advice that you should stay in camp just in case.

AS: Yeah, Mom says, "You wouldn't," if she got sick, where would I go? You know, hospital and all. And we, we still thought people outside are very hostile. You don't know. But Chicago was okay, and then when Dan's brother went to -- from another camp -- he went to Ohio, and so that's where... 'cause we didn't have any money. I think, I told Dan, and I think back, I think didn't they give us three hundred fifty dollar each? I think they did, and I think my daughter --

Off Camera voice: I don't, I don't remember that.

AS: I think, 'cause we didn't, we had to have some money when you go out, and so then I think they gave my daughter about a hundred fifty. She's a baby. Yeah, when you're going out, you got to eat and stuff, so at least we had some... I had some money in the bank, but I just left it. I figured, Bank of America, I'll leave it. But we have to have something, you know, when you travel out, so I think, I remember know, I think they gave us three hundred fifty each, so we had some money to... after all, when you travel you got to eat and stuff.

RP: Right.

AS: And it's funny, they gave us a pass like, and we dressed... gosh, we're gonna go out, we're gonna dress nice, in fact, that picture... and so people thought we were diplomats. We had government pass, and so they thought we were diplomats so they really treated us nice. And most of the time, on the old trains, they had servicemen on there. And it's funny, my daughter, she was only fifteen months old, but she spoke only Japanese then, and she talked to these servicemen and they, they thought it was so unusual, this little tiny, she was real tiny, would speak Japanese. But they were real nice. I guess they we were diplomats because we were dressed properly, the hat on and my, everything else, and we had the government pass that said government, so they thought we were working for the government. It's unusual, people.