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RP: Share with us what you remember most about your mother.

YS: About my mom?

RP: Yeah. First of all, tell us her name.

YS: Fumiye, yeah, Fumiye Shibuya. That was also her maiden name because she married either a second or a third cousin. So her maiden name was Shibuya. It was one of those, my dad was already over here and my mother, I guess whether it was prearranged or whatever, she came over here and everything was, I guess the parents had already made arrangements or whatever and she came over and... so whenever, like you fill out a bank application and it says "state your mother's maiden name." Well, you know, I have to tell 'em her maiden name was like her married name.

RP: Tell us what you remember most about your mother.

YS: Well she was a hard worker. Had four kids. She never remarried. And well, she's tough. [Laughs] I remember gettin' many whippings from her. Yeah, she worked like in the restaurants cookin' and waiting, you know, waiting tables or whatever. And then of course running the hotel business, making the beds up... you know I wonder, like one of these things were... you know nowadays you rent an apartment, whoever rents it sleeps and they make their own bed right? But back then whoever was running the hotel would go in there and make their beds up for them or whatever.

RP: Did she cook meals for the guests too?

YS: No, no, she didn't. They cooked, you know, they had their own kitchen and whatnot, yeah. But, 'cause my brother and I like on weekends we would let my mother rest and we would go in and make the beds and whatnot.

RP: How about your older sister and brother? Were they also living at the motel at that time?

YS: Let's see. Let me think back. Right before... you know on the first draft, right before World War II my brother got drafted. It was a lottery, a draft lottery and his number came up the first, first number. And he was in the army before the war broke out.

RP: Where was he stationed?

YS: Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, or... I don't remember the state but, Jefferson Barracks, I remember that. And my sister, no, she just went to, she was going to school.

RP: Did she attend college?

YS: No, she did not attend college. My oldest brother did and then my brother George did. But she did teach during the war years. You know, they had like a language teaching and she went back to Philadelphia either to teach the translators or, I don't know whether for the army or what, but she went back there to teach. And so did my brother George. My brother George went to Stillwater, Oklahoma. I don't know whether University of Oklahoma or Oklahoma State is there, but that's where he went to teach before he went in the army.

RP: Who were you closest to of all your siblings?

YS: I think my brother George. 'Cause he was right next to, you know, yeah...

RP: Now you had, you said you attended Central Junior High School.

YS: Yeah.

RP: And, that was predominately a black...

YS: No, it was predominately, back then I think it's Hispanics. A lot of Hispanics lived in that area. Let's see... yeah, mostly Hispanics. And of course Orientals and whites, you know, mixed in. Very few, very few blacks. There was a few in there.

RP: Yo, where did you first get an inkling, a musical, that you had a musical interest? Where did that first start to develop for you?

YS: Well, back in camp used to go to the dances. They played a lot of this big band music. And then I got, I just wanted to learn how to play an instrument, you know, a saxophone. And then, well, then I started pestering my mom that I wanted to try it anyway. And of course I think she had her doubts as to... you know how kids are. They say like they want to learn something, then they find out it's too much like work because you have to practice, right? Yeah. But, you know in camp the way they taught you, they taught you the basics and then they threw you right into a band. There was like a concert band that played overtures. And then there was another band that played marches and stuff. And so it got, it was fun, so when it's fun makes you want to practice more. And then when you're able to play with these guys, so then you get real interested in it. And then of course in high school they had the band so...

RP: So did you, did you listen to big band music when you were growing up too?

YS: Yeah, yeah. Because that's when, right about the time the war broke out it was, Glenn Miller was real popular then. And then some of my friends, my Mexican friends, they played an instrument too. And of course we'd talk about it and whatnot. And how much fun he was having and, yeah, that's how I got interested in it.

RP: Why the saxophone?

YS: Well, I guess I liked the sound of it.

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