Densho Digital Archive - Karlene Koketsu Interview (denshovh-kkarlene-01-0014)

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RP: Did you have any occasions, Karlene, to go out of the camp on a school outing or --

KK: No, we went to that Bairs Creek, but I can't remember if we were going out or not but we did that with friends. As a family, I don't believe, I mean, we didn't do much visiting or we lived next door to our friends and so we (visited with them).

RP: Morimotos.

KK: The Morimotos.

RP: Was Mr. Morimoto an artist, do you know?

KK: No.

RP: Do you remember any of your other neighbors?

KK: The artwork? I remember there being these little arts and crafts type shows, where people made things. (Narr. note: Yes, the Yoshiwaras lived next door (31-11-3). They had two sons born in camp, Norman and Harvey. Across the way were the Kurahashis, he was our block manager.)

RP: And you could go view them? Visual arts museum I think it's called.

KK: Uh-huh. Other than making our furniture I don't believe my dad did any type of craft, you know, like some... oh, I guess the, it was in the Arizona area where they made the canes and things out of saguaro, is it plants. One of the things we used to see as we walked around were elderly people playing go and people who captured little chipmunks and made wheels for them, you know, I remember that. I wasn't real outgoing but I like to watch people and things, I mean, I was a people watcher so I do remember seeing, you know, and ladies doing their knitting and crocheting and there was one man in our block that taught a type of singing, sounded like somebody being, you know, killed. [Laughs] It was a Japanese, with shamisen, I can't remember what it was called.

RP: Would it have been shigin?

KK: No, it wasn't shigin. It must have been some type of folk singing but it was caterwauling sort of. [Laughs] That was all I recall but he was an older man but he gave lessons I think and so we used to hear that. But people did do shigin also. And then the talent shows, they used to have talent shows, you know, they had a band, I don't know what it was called but they were, you know, probably college, late teens, college aged kids who had band.

RP: Was it the Jive Bombers?

KK: It may have been. There was a Bill Wakatsuki, lived in our block and whenever they have various things, I remember him singing "Old Man River." And Jean Wakatsuki was in one of the classes, we were in the same grade and so she was (at recess), I remember playing with her. And during recess we would have play, like super heroes and she was always Wonder Woman, that was one thing I remembered about her. I mean, we weren't close friends or anything like that but, you know, how kids play on the playground and become acquainted with each other, I remember.

RP: Do you remember attending any events in the auditorium later on?

KK: Movies, they had movies and if you went regularly they had those Western serials. But they did have movies in the auditorium. I can't remember any other, you know, they may have had the talent shows there but other than that... I do remember that building though where the visitor's center is now, I do remember that. I think I remember when it was being built originally.

RP: You were talking about the ground squirrels that the guys were making wheels for.

KK: The chipmunks.

RP: Any other wildlife that you observed?

KK: Horned toads and scorpions and other lizards, you know, a variety of lizards I think, that's about all I remember.

RP: Did you ever see those in your barrack room, lizards?

KK: No, we didn't, fortunately didn't have (any in our barrack).

RP: How about snakes?

KK: Yeah, they did have snakes, I can't remember what they were called, there were just sort of ordinary, I don't believe we had any rattlesnakes. We occasionally found flint, you know, arrowhead type things, pieces of flint. I remember gathering some kind of vegetable, sort of like spinach, and I remember my mother cooking it, it was good. I'm not sure what it was, kind of like when people go out and get mustard greens or that sort of thing but it was a darker green and I'm not sure what it was. Oh, I remember one of the things that we did was go to the ball games, you know, the old man teams where the older men played baseball. What else?

RP: You said you were early on in your life, you were very attracted to sort of older people, did that carry over to Manzanar?

KK: No, I think it was mainly younger friends because we didn't have, I don't remember there being a lot of young children in our neighborhood growing up, I mean, before the war.

RP: Was there any sight, sound, or smell that frightened you in camp, any talk about ghosts or ghost stories?

KK: Oh, they did, older children told us ghost stories. And some adults talked about these kind of poofs that came up at the base of the mountain or at the foothills of the mountain. I don't know what they were called but they were supposed to be like... they weren't like ghosts, but sort of some sort of phenomenon that occurred but, I mean, I was never a witness to it or anything like that but I do recall people talking about it. I don't know what they were. [Laughs]