<Begin Segment 14>

TI: Before we go to Minidoka, any other memories about the Portland [Exposition] Center?

LI: All I knew it was very, very hot, no privacy. It won't come to me right now.

TI: Okay, if it does, just go ahead and bring it up, but let's go to Minidoka. And when you went to Minidoka, how was that different than Portland?

LI: It was extremely hot and very, very dusty. I can remember trying to close my nose and keep my eyes shut, 'cause it was really, really bad lots of times. It wasn't that continually, but when the wind would blow, it was horrendous. And in Minidoka, well, we got there on a train, and all the windows were closed, and we were not supposed to open it at all. And the soldiers that were on there were okay, they weren't doing anything bad to us. When we got to Minidoka, I guess the first day or so, all we did was unpack and see what we could do. There was that potbellied stove, and we had to go and get the wood, etcetera, outside. And then we had to find out where the restroom was and where the dining room was, and there was nothing private inside the rooms. Oh, there was a canal over there, which was nice, but this was way over there, and that's a little later, too.

TI: Well, describe your living quarters. What was that like?

LI: Very, very small. I think I might have a picture, but it was just all wood, and then my mother brought some of my dolls or whatever, so we put them on the shelves. And, gee, we didn't have a whole lot of things for sure. We didn't, we just couldn't bring a lot of things. So it was pretty bare.

TI: Yeah, because your father wasn't with you, were there others who helped or offered to help the two of you?

LI: Yes, I'm sure there were. There were other fathers (who) were taken, too. I don't know if Cannon's father was taken or not. We have some of those group pictures. I knew him, but I didn't know him real well. You know, the age difference, even one or two years, made a big difference.

TI: Now for the families who had their fathers taken away, were you treated any differently than the other families?

LI: No. No, we were not.

TI: So there wasn't any mumbling or talking that perhaps your father was maybe more pro-Japan or something and that was the problem?

LI: I didn't hear anything like that.

TI: And so when you're at Minidoka, earlier you said your mother worked in the kitchen at [Portland]. What did she do at Minidoka?

LI: She did the same type of thing, she worked in the kitchen. I think that was sixteen dollars a month at that time. So I ate a lot of meals with my friends at that time.

TI: And so when you weren't in school, how did you spend your time at Minidoka?

LI: I learned how to play sports. I used to play tennis, and she got me (a racquet), I don't know where it was, Montgomery Ward's or Sears, and then in the wintertime she got me ice skates, and so we went up and down the canal, which was fun. We learned a lot of sports, because there was nothing much more to do. I learned to play basketball and, let's see... well, anyway, there were quite a few sports that I took part in. I learned how to play tennis while I was over there, so I've been playing 'til I was seventy-five. [Laughs]

TI: So I have to ask you a question about the ice skating. My dad was at Minidoka and claims that he also did ice skating. But one of the places they ice skated wasn't the canal, but it was like the cesspool? So he said that's why he's such a good ice skater, because they learned never to fall. Have you heard anything like that?

LI: [Laughs] No, I did not.

TI: Okay, that's his story.

LI: What block did he live in?

TI: You know, I don't know offhand which block.

LI: Oh. You know all these things about Minidoka already.

TI: Well, he told me little stories about that.

LI: How old is he now?

TI: He's eighty-six.

LI: Is that right?

TI: So he's a little bit older than you are.

LI: But what was his first name?

TI: Junks.

LI: Junks Ikeda?

TI: Yeah.

LI: Junks Ikeda, I know the name, and I know what he looks like.

TI: Okay, that's my father.

LI: Yeah. Oh, for heaven sakes, what a small world. Junks Ikeda, yeah, he's about your dad's age.

TI: Well, yeah, he's my dad.

LI: Yeah. Who's he married to?

TI: To, it was Mary Kinoshita.

LI: Oh yes, yes, I know her. They made a nice couple.

TI: [Laughs] And they had five children, I'm the third one.

LI: Is that right? For heaven sakes.

TI: Yeah, there's a strong connection between Portland and Seattle. My dad always talks about how... so here's another story about Portland. So he went early to Minidoka to help volunteer to set things up, but he said the best job, he said, was the crew that helped unload the train, and they would then bring things over, help people bring their belongings to their apartments. And he said what they would do was he said the most attractive girls were from Portland, and so he would always, they would always...

LI: But he married a Seattle person.

TI: But he would grab the things to help all the pretty Portland girls with their stuff.

LI: Is that right? Oh, for heaven sakes.

TI: That's his story. So a little tangent, I'm not sure if this will make the final cut of this.

LI: Oh, that's interesting. I knew who both of them were, but I didn't know them personally. I can still picture them.

TI: Yeah, so I've learned a lot about the camp from him.

LI: Oh, I'm sure. Oh, yes.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.