Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Masuko Oyama Interview
Narrator: Masuko Oyama
Interviewer: Janet Kakishita
Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon
Date: November 10, 2013
Densho ID: denshovh-omasuko-01-0008

<Begin Segment 8>

JK: And at the time when they finally determined you were go to the assembly center, how did your family get there, do you remember?

MO: No. You know, when people ask me that, I feel so dumb. Being the youngest, you know, you did whatever you were told. So I can't remember a lot of things.

JK: You just followed?

MO: Yeah, I did what they told me to do.

JK: When you got to the assembly center, what was your first impression when you looked around?

MO: It felt like an insult to be put in there, 'cause the partition they had were just all drapes, sheets, taking up square. If you had a family of four people, they had four beds. Family of five, they had the same square with the same beds that we would sleep in. The thing that was dividing us was just a thin sheet between us, so you could hear anybody burp, snore, anything. It was just a big, big place. It was fun for young people.

JK: Uh-huh, so what made it fun for you when you were there?

MO: It was... I laughed more than anything else, what else can you do? You can hear people snoring and coughing, anything. Turning in their beds, all the noise was all available for anybody because it was one big room.

JK: Uh-huh. And how did you spend your day as a young person, as time progressed, at the assembly center?

MO: Find whatever you can do without getting in trouble, I guess.

JK: So what kinds of things did you find?

MO: Well, there wasn't much you can get in trouble, there wasn't anything you can do. But they fed us, we had food, meals, three meals a day. You could take showers.

JK: Was it private for you, the showers and things?

MO: Oh, no, shower's all one open stall.

JK: And how were meals handled at that time?

MO: Like a restaurant would be. Just served on the big table.

JK: Okay, so the whole family would go with other families, you would go through the line.

MO: Uh-huh.

JK: And did you have school? Did you have to go to school then?

MO: Yes. Well, I don't know if they called it schools, but they did try to keep the grades together, whatever grade you were in, they would have a group in a certain place that you couldn't waste too much time getting behind in your class work.

JK: Did they have activities to keep you occupied, too, that they --

MO: They tried to. They had things going athletically. People have baseball, tennis, or whatever, to keep us occupied. But that's a very small place for a lot of people.

JK: And your father didn't go with you to the --

MO: He was ill. He was ill, and he was in the hospital, and so they let my oldest brother stay with him until he was able to move.

JK: Okay, so he was...

MO: Went and met him in Idaho.

JK: How did your mother deal with this? She could go and see her husband?

MO: Uh-uh. She had to take care of the three of us. There were four of us in the family, so she was the take-carer.

JK: Okay, and how did your mom spend her day at the assembly center?

MO: With the other ladies, I think. They grouped together, kind of consoling each other, what else can you do? Talked to each other, and meet people that way, too, from all over.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.