Densho Digital Archive
Manzanar National Historic Site Collection
Title: Margaret Saito Interview
Narrator: Margaret Saito
Interviewer: Kirk Peterson
Location: Sacramento, California
Date: December 17, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-smargaret_2-01-0005

<Begin Segment 5>

KP: What other stories come up before the war? Do you remember?

MS: Oh, before the war, well, we did get together with my, with my cousins, my father's sister's family. Well, let's see. And his brother, he has, he had one sister that passed away when she was child... baby probably. And then the older sister who was in insurance and had the business in Los Angeles, they were very prominent in Little Tokyo. And then he had a younger sister Mary, but see, Mary, she got married like in 19... maybe 40. My sister and I and my cousin Helen were in that wedding. So it's those kinds of things that was before the war.

KP: What do you remember about that wedding?

MS: Oh, well, we were flower girls and we have these pictures of us in these flower girl and we had our hair done. And it was just a fun time, the reception was at, in Little Tokyo at a place called... I don't recall. It's still there but I don't think it's open.

KP: So was it a Japanese type --

MS: It was a... this was a Chinese restaurant. You know in those days we would go to Chinese restaurants and we would say, "China meshi" and that's like eating Chinese food and that's what lots of receptions were, Chinese food. I don't know why that it's like that but that's how that was. And another time before the war I have... oh, I have this long picture -- in those days they had these parades, these processions, and my sister and I wore this headdress and we had these dots painted on us. It was ochigo and it's a... we had these Japanese kimonos on. Oh, I wish I brought that picture. We do have even a picture of us two with these outfits on. And it's traditionally Buddhist. My father's family is Buddhist, and my mother's family was Buddhist also. But we went to a Christian Sunday school.

KP: While you were growing up?

MS: This is before, yeah, before the war, somebody came to pick us up, my sister and I were talking the other day because in my testimony for the church we did a little booklet. I said, "I have no idea, I think it's just happenstance," but I said to my sister, I think somebody approached my mother and said, "Would your children come to Sunday school? We'll come after them and bring them home." And that's what we did. And this is now called the Sage Memorial Methodist church in El Monte. And the retired pastor here went to... was the pastor at that church so this was Reverend Yokoi who was our pastor then and I have a bible that says "For perfect attendance during the year 1940." And so I've kept that bible, it's a King James. And so I've had that bible all this time and I've gone to Christian --

KP: Did you take that bible to camp with you? Or was it stored?

MS: I don't know. I don't think I took it with me because you know we could only take -- and probably I didn't carry anything probably -- but I have this old bible and I'll just keep it because it's kind of precious. And so I do remember going to Sunday school before the war.

KP: Did you like going to Sunday school?

MS: Yeah, I did. But see, you know, but I can't tell you why because I don't remember but it was a place that we went to on Sunday and even in camp I went to Sunday school, and even after camp. So there's been many connections. After camp we went to Spokane and we went to the Grant Street Methodist Church. And the pastor there was Reverend Goto, his son and his family are here, here at our church. And it was his father who was the pastor there. So a lot of connections that, like this in my life because when we were in Pomona, this young fellow, he might have been eighteen and you know I didn't know him from anybody but that was Harry Murakami who said, "He's going to school in..." I thought he said Wooten... but when I looked it up I don't think there's any place called Wooten... "but he was going to be a minister." And then later he came to Sacramento he became the minister at this church and he was the one who baptized me. See, these non coincidences, that's just how it's been for me.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.