Densho Digital Archive - Helen Mori Interview (denshovh-mhelen

<Begin Segment 6>

RP: And did you go to Japanese school after school?

HM: Yeah.

RP: After public school?

HM: Yes, yes, yes.

RP: And where was the Japanese school located in Gardena?

HM: 169th and Western was the big intersection so I would say it was about 167th or sixth, 166th maybe, between Western and Arlington? I don't know. Off of Western anyway. One of the side streets. It was the Japanese, Japanese school. I mean, I think, it wasn't in a building with other things. It was a bungalow like this with maybe four or five rooms, stucco, very nice. And we'd have what they call undoukai, which is athletic, three-legged races or running races or that kind of thing. They would have that once a year in the... they had a pretty big property because the oval was pretty big. And we'd participate in the undoukai.

RP: Did you have cultural events there? Picnics or parties or...

HM: No. It was strictly a language school.

RP: And how far did you get in...

HM: Pardon me?

RP: How far did you get in, in your language...

HM: Oh, I went to second grade when the war started, so. And then they, they closed the camp. As soon as the war started they closed the, I mean, they closed the Japanese school, period. So, that's all I went, second grade. He went a lot more than I did. I used to write to my cousins in Japanese though. The hiragana, you know, longer... that's the only way I could communicate with them because I forgot all the kanji. Well, up to second grade you don't learn much anyways. So when they write back to me they try to write the kana on the side, the hiragana on the side. 'Cause they know I can't read kanji. But for them it's so much easier to write the kanji 'cause the Japanese language there's one word could have all kinds of meanings. And you know the meaning of the word by the kanji. So, they're prone to using kanji a lot. And, especially the common words. But I still don't even know the common words so they write the kana on the side. [Laughs] At least we know how to communicate. 'Cause I could write English. They can't read the English, so...

RP: So, did you speak Japanese or English with your mom at home?

HM: At home?

RP: Yeah.

HM: Oh, English. And my stepfather spoke broken English. He mixed in broken English with Japanese.

RP: So, your, was your upbringing a balance of Japanese and American culture?

HM: Mostly American.

RP: Mostly American.

HM: Uh-huh, upbringing, yeah. Whereas we're different, see. We, my daughter says, "Our place reeks of Japanese." [Laughs] I said, "What do you mean reeks?"

RP: Do you remember any specific holidays, Japanese holidays at all that you celebrated?

HM: Not really. I know I had a Girls Day display, but my mother, she was too busy to even set it up. You know, we never had it in the house. We bought the whole thing for our kids 'cause we have three girls. So, we, not lately, but when, when our grandkids got old enough we would set it up and take pictures with them and the whole display. The Girls Days has seven shelves. Boys Day has... Boys Day was five? We have a Boys Day thing too but we hardly put that up. One son.

RP: Your, when you had to evacuate, you mentioned something about a piano being sold?

HM: Oh, the piano, the...

RP: So you had a...

HM: She had a piano and a sewing machine and...

RP: So did you play?

HM: No.

RP: You didn't take lessons?

HM: I never took lessons. She couldn't afford it.

RP: She played?

HM: No. [Laughs]

RP: Who played?

HM: She bought it for looks maybe. She, she didn't have the money to take lessons either. But we did have a piano in the house. We didn't have a radio or a TV or a... well, no TV in those days. We didn't even have a radio or phonograph in the house. But we had a piano that nobody played. [Laughs] Probably, eventually she wanted me to get lessons, but then the war came when I was old enough to really start. So...

RP: Did she ever talk about her experiences on Terminal Island?

HM: Did she ever talk?

RP: Teaching Japanese language school there?

HM: I don't.... not really except that she taught at the Christian language school and there was a Buddhist language school. She taught at the Christian one. That was about it. She only taught there about a year anyway, year or two. I really don't know how long.

RP: Did Gardena, if you were, can recall at that time, did Gardena have a Japantown area?

HM: Not really. Uh-uh. Even now. People congregate near our church, Gardena Buddhist Church. But then there's Christian, Japanese Christian churches scattered here and there too in Gardena. So there's no real meaning like a Japantown. In fact I think the only one with a Japantown is L.A., San Jose, and San Francisco, and that's disappearing fast. It's, a shame. And Sacramento, I'm sure they had a big Japantown too but it's barely a manju confectionary store, maybe a Japanese restaurant, maybe one little area. Maybe not even a full block that, Japanese stores and, and what would you call that? Are in this one block around there.