<Begin Segment 8>

RP: Do you remember where you met to go to Manzanar?

JO: You mean where the bus picked us up?

RP: Yeah.

JO: It was Burbank. It was on Burbank, in Burbank. I think... what is it? No, I don't remember exactly. If I go there I might recognize the street or something. But I don't remember. Might go there... it was by, in front of the park. That's all I can remember. It had a big building there and... so you had to be there a certain time and...

RP: What do you remember taking with you to go to Manzanar?

JO: Just clothes. You take whatever clothes we could carry, that was it, 'cause you were allowed only one bag and whatever, what you can carry. So we didn't know what to expect. Since my brother was up there he was telling us. Like you know, he would say, write a letter or something and tell us. But there wasn't much. What are you going to do? We took, might have took some sheets or something like that. 'Cause he was... you know, there was no rooms in the barracks. So we hang it up, you gotta hang something up, get a little privacy which I don't think it was privacy, but it was something.

RP: You took the bus up to Manzanar?

JO: Oh, yeah. There was I don't know how many buses. There were quite a few buses. And every time they stop, if you had to go you were out there in the field. The women had a problem with that. 'Cause they... you had to go, you had to go. The men don't have that much problem. You could see them all runnin' out in the field. You know, out in the desert and you'd come back. You know, there's no place to go out there. So, you know... took something like six or seven hours. Took a long time I know. Takes you what, about five hours otherwise? Something like that.

RP: So did you have any, did you have any thoughts about what was happening at that point? Leaving San Fernando, going to somewhere in the desert?

JO: No, I don't really recall. Just, this is the way it is I guess we thought. And that's where we gotta go. They say something, that's what you had to do. There's no ifs and buts so...

RP: So you went up there just before your birthday, didn't you?

JO: Yeah. And I was sick for two weeks. I don't know, it was the mumps or whatever it was. I was, I went to the, try to go to the hospital they had no hospital. So, they said, doctor said just stay in bed. So, my mom used to bring my food for two weeks. And then every time you had to go to the bathroom you had to go out there with, to the middle of the block. Fortunately it was right there at the end of my... the men's side was anyway. Yeah, the men's was there. The women was a little further up.

RP: Do you remember where you, what block you lived in?

JO: I was in 15, barrack number 4, and the third apartment. 15-4-3.

RP: And all your brothers and sisters were with you? Or at...

JO: No. Even the one that was there before, they moved him in all that, all in together.

RP: Hisayuki?

JO: Yeah.

RP: You had, let's see, there were four brothers, a sister, and...

JO: Three brothers and one sister.

RP: There were six of you.

JO: Five. Four brothers and one sister. So, yeah.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2010 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.