<Begin Segment 9>

RP: So you get out of college, you said you graduated in 1930, the Depression had just begun.

MS: Yeah, right. That's why it was difficult. Everybody was having a rough time and I, what money I made, I helped my family.

RP: And what do you recall about the Depression in terms of how it affected your --

MS: Well, like I told in that paper that everybody is the same, so I didn't... they talk so much about it now, but I didn't feel that -- of course, I was younger, too -- I didn't feel as bad as people talk about it now. They think, oh, that Depression, they think it was terrible, but everybody went without things, so it didn't seem that bad to me. I don't remember. You know, it was bad. We couldn't always have everything, but I didn't feel it was that bad. We weren't depressed or anything, that I can remember. We had enough to eat, I know. I wouldn't starve. And clothes, I know I could've had more, but we managed.

RP: When and how did you meet your husband?

MS: He was, the store was in Terminal Island, where I worked for a while, and that's, he was fishing there, and that's how I met him.

RP: And what was the name of the pharmacy?

MS: East San Pedro.

RP: East San Pedro.

MS: East San Pedro Pharmacy.

RP: And who, who owned the pharmacy?

MS: Well, a lady had, a man, he owned it and he passed away. He was a pharmacist, so she wanted someone to, she didn't want to sell, so she was looking for someone. That's why, they found me and they thought it would be nice, her being a widow, so I was told to go out there and interview her. So I stayed, lived with them and I ran pharmacy for several years for her, and then finally she got old, she wanted to go back to Japan, so my folks bought the pharmacy and I ran it for about, close to nine years before war broke out. So I lost most of it. I tried to sell something to the other pharmacy, but I just didn't have time because we had... June 7th, that was this other day we would've been married, let's see, sixty-eight years, and so I was telling everybody, June 7th, we got married and then December 7th war broke out, so I said if we'd known that we probably not, wouldn't have got even married. So we had just gotten married six months before the war, so we, our house, we just got it fixed up and everything, so I had to take care of the house, to pack everything and sell everything, so I couldn't be bothered by the store. So I lost practically... I tried to, I sold a few things to other pharmacies. They came in, but at the end I didn't want to be bothered. And I left a few things there. I was gonna go back, we had to get out of there in forty-eight hours and we got a truck and we drove out there. We moved it and we went back the next day to pick up a few things. You know what? Meanwhile someone had broken in and stole everything. The public felt they had, entitled because we were enemies, entitled to everything. They came into Terminal Island and they wanted to buy refrigerators and different things. They'd offer ten dollars for a refrigerator, and like pianos, they'd offer fifty dollars. At first they thought, 'cause, "They didn't care about money. They're afraid for their lives. They don't know where to go," because that was... and in fact, they didn't have enough trucks, movers to move us out of there.

[Interruption]

RP: Misako, can you give me your father's and mother's names?

MS: My mother's name, N-U-I Ishii, and then my father, Rinsaburo.

RP: Can you spell Rinsaburo?

MS: R-I-N-S-A-B... Rinsaburo. R-I-N-S-A-B-U-R, Rinsaburo. We called him Rin, R-I-N. [Laughs]

RP: What was your mother's maiden name?

MS: Kusama. K-U-S-A-M-A. She came... anyway...

RP: I just wanted to return to the, during the Depression, having experienced the Depression, did you learn any important lessons that you carried on later on?

MS: No, I really don't remember that much.

RP: Anything that you did differently during that time?

MS: I don't think so. I mean, I think we just led a normal life. I just don't remember any special...

RP: How about conserving?

MS: Yeah, everybody had, you know. But I don't know, they talk so much about it, but I don't really remember being that bad. They talk about the big Depression.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.