<Begin Segment 6>

KP: So did you like going to grammar school? How was school?

MS: I did like school. I don't recall anything bad about school.

KP: What do you remember liking? What subjects did you like the best?

MS: Oh, I really don't... yeah, I don't have a favorite subject.

KP: Were there other Japanese children in grammar school with you at Hudson?

MS: No, I don't recall anybody. Yeah, nobody.

KP: Did you have any good friends in school?

MS: No, not at Hudson school at all. I don't recall a single name. So it doesn't, doesn't show that much interest in anybody.

KP: You mentioned that your mother got her sewing machine from the Pomona fair? What was, when did, what was it like going to the fair?

MS: Oh, that was a lot of fun. It's something like going to the state fair here. But it was, we would see all those commercial things in the buildings, like my sister and I like to go see what's the latest stuff that they're pushing. And, but it was just, just a fun time where there were lots of people and you just saw all these different things.

KP: What were the most impressive things you remember? Do you remember anything from that?

MS: No, I don't remember anything special. It was just a good experience. I don't... no, I just... there wasn't anything set in my mind.

KP: So they brought in a lot of products that --

MS: Yes.

KP: So it's kind like a big store?

MS: Yeah, it was, yeah. 'Cause I don't remember shopping when I was little or doing anything like that. And even when I'm thinking about camp I'm thinking, I don't think I had any money, there was no place to go spend money. So, you know, I don't have a real good sense of money.

KP: So your mother bought her sewing machine? You remember that?

MS: Yeah, I do. Yeah, and she did sew our clothes, she made a suit for my father that even after the war my stepmother said those pants were the best fitting pants he ever had. So I know that she really knew her stuff.

KP: And you said that she studied?

MS: Yeah, she did.

KP: When was that?

MS: This is, well, it must be, I don't know if it was before she got married or what. But I think it was in Los Angeles. And so I know she knew the craft. And both my sister and I sewed at a early age, too. So we get that from her.

KP: Did your father have any crafts that he did? Or was he too busy with the farm?

MS: I think he had no hobbies. So that's sad. I think he worked all his life and he liked being independent because he did work for other people during the war. I know when he left the camp and went to work he worked for somebody. And I know he worked at Cuneo press in Chicago. And so, but he always, when he could, he became his own... I mean, when he farmed he was his own. So I think, I think that's what he really enjoyed.

KP: So how long would it take to get to Los Angeles from La Puente?

MS: From here? Oh, from La Puente?

KP: Back in that day?

MS: Oh, back in that day? I have no idea. I have no concept of time in that time. Yeah, I just don't know.

KP: Okay.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.