<Begin Segment 5>

RP: How about your upbringing as a Japanese American you, you know, kind of represented two different cultures. How were you raised? In one culture or kind of a balance of both American and Japanese?

LS: It would have to be a balance, probably more American by the time I arrived. Maybe my brothers and sisters may have experienced more of a Japanese type, I don't know. But I just feel that it was more American upbringing for me.

RP: And was there, that you can recall, was there a Japanese community in Imperial?

LS: Not in Imperial, but we always went to Brawley, and the Buddhist church was very important in our lives. So the Buddhist church, we just did everything around the Buddhist church and then also there were different families from the same area in Japan and they would always get together for picnics and things like that. So I do remember those gatherings very well.

RP: Oh, what used to be called the prefectural picnics?

LS: Right, right.

RP: Kenjinkai.

LS: Yes. Yes, yes, right.

RP: What do you remember about the picnics?

LS: Oh, the good food. [Laughs] Always Mrs. So and so made the best sushi or something like that. And we would run around and taste the food and things like that. I remember that.

RP: There was a fair number of people from Fukuoka in that area.

LS: Yes.

RP: So the Buddhist church was kind of the core of community activity, social events?

LS: For my family, yes. That Buddhist church was very important.

RP: Were there specific events that you can recall that you went to there?

LS: Well, we went every Sunday. If we didn't go on a Sunday the reverend came after us so it was, I mean, it was always, we were always there on Sundays. Yes.

RP: There was Sunday school too?

LS: Sunday school, yeah.

RP: Were there other social events like movies, things shown?

LS: Movies, pine nuts... always going to a Japanese movie there and getting pine nuts.

RP: Pine nuts?

LS: You know about pine nuts? They were wonderful.

RP: And was there a language school associated with the Buddhist church in Brawley?

LS: Uh-huh. We used to go to church in the morning and then we would have school, Japanese school in the afternoon, on Sundays.

RP: And so you, how long did you attend language school? Up until the war?

LS: Uh-huh, yes. So I loved to write Japanese. But I mean, I've forgotten a lot of it now.

RP: Many, many Niseis say, "We were forced to go," and so didn't really get much out of their experience.

LS: Oh, I see.

RP: But did you enjoy the writing part of it?

LS: I enjoyed the writing. Yeah. That was very nice.

RP: And plus it was an opportunity for, you know, all the kids to gather and...

LS: Right. Because you know we lived so far... we lived in the country. We never saw anyone. So it was just nice to get together.

RP: Were there other Japanese stores or any type of a district in Brawley that you could go, let's say, to a Japanese store to purchase tofu or rice or that type of thing?

LS: Tofu, incidentally, my sister-in-law's father was the tofu maker in town so we always got the tofu and he had fish and, yeah, so that was great. And he'd come around with his truck to his farmers and sell his wares. So that... and then there was a drugstore in town I remember. And yeah, grocery store, drug store, and the tofu man.

RP: Do you recall other ethnic groups that lived in the Brawley area other than Japanese Americans?

LS: Hindus, quite a bit of Hindus. Quite a number rather, of Hindus. There, I'm sure there were Chinese, I just don't know. I just... yeah, there were other ethnic groups.

RP: And where you lived in Imperial, can you describe the community of Imperial?

LS: Very small. You'd see a sign that says, "Welcome to Imperial." And as soon as you went a block it says, "Goodbye," that's what it would say. [Laughs] It was a very, very small community.

RP: Did you have other Japanese American farms located...

LS: There might have been. Maybe there might have been three other Japanese farm, farmers there in Imperial. You know, they were mostly in El Centro or Brawley or Westmorland. Yeah, there were only a couple of us in Imperial.

RP: Did any of your brothers and sisters get sent back to Japan during the time they were growing up?

LS: My sister went to Japan for two years right after high school. She had a scholarship to come up to Mills College. But for some reason my parents didn't want to let her go. You know, it was just this thing. And so my mother's brother said, "If you want to send her to Japan I'll put her through school here." So, you know, send her over so that if it was Japan, okay, fine. So they sent her to Japan for two years. Yeah, but that was it.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.