<Begin Segment 10>

JK: Did they tell you when you would be relocated again, or was it still unknown what was happening?

AO: Yeah, it was unknown until later on in the summer. And I can't remember when, but I think we left the assembly center in September sometime.

JK: And how did you get to Minidoka?

AO: Trains. The only thing I remember about the trains were they were all coaches. We had to keep the window shades pulled down day and night all the time while we traveled to Idaho so that we couldn't see out and nobody could see in. But we did go by train to Minidoka.

JK: Did they tell you anything about what to expect at Minidoka before you arrived?

AO: I don't remember hearing anything specific other than the fact that we would probably be joining in with the Japanese community members from Seattle, from the state of Washington. Oregon and Washington together at the Idaho camp.

JK: Okay, and when you got to Minidoka, what did you see there?

AO: Fortunately, I had met a Boy Scout from Seattle, a fellow named John Okamoto. The Seattle group had been to Minidoka before the Portland group went there. So he was quite familiar with everything, and so he took my hand and showed me around the whole camp and took care of me my first few days I was there.

JK: What was your day like in camp, a typical day for you? What would it be like?

AO: Well, we didn't get there 'til September, so schools were already getting ready to start. So our daytime activities were pretty much taken care of by attendance at school.

JK: Was it similar to school that you were going to in Portland, or was it different?

AO: Yes, it was quite interesting, because I never had a chance to meet so many Japanese people before in my life. And it was a real awakening to me to realize there were so many people of Japanese ancestry, because being in a regular high school in Portland, I never saw that many Japanese. So it was a very heartwarming experience to realize there were so many Japanese people around.

JK: After school, what did you do, after your classes ended?

AO: Oh, in summertime, you mean?

JK: Well, on a typical school day.

AO: Oh, school day, we were always kept busy, we played basketball or something after school, so during the time that we were in school, this John Okamoto was a very popular basketball player in Seattle. And so he and I got to know each other real well, and he go be elected senior class president, and I got elected student body president. So the two of us pretty much knew what all the activities were that were going on at the school, and that's what we participated in and everything that we could. We had a very... I could say enjoyable time in school. On the weekends, we always had dances. We didn't have a band at first. There was a Minidoka band later on, but initially, it was all dancing in the mess halls to record music, turntable music. But we kept busy on weekends.

JK: What was your mom doing?

AO: She was a waitress in one of the dining rooms, Block 39, where we lived.

JK: And when she wasn't waitressing, how else did she use her time?

AO: I don't know.

JK: Did she participate in crafts?

AO: I'm sure she did, but I didn't keep track of... I was too busy with my own activities to note what she did.

JK: How about your sister Minnie, what was going on with her?

AO: She was, had already started college, so when she went to Minidoka, she had already finished high school. So school was not an option there. But after a while, we found out that there was a, federal government had a student nurse program where the girls could go to college for four years, get a nursing degree, and then pay for their college education by serving four years in the army or navy nurse corps. So my sister decided to take advantage of that, so she signed up for nursing school and she went to Madison, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin school of nursing. And so she spent all of her four years there, from '42 to '46.

JK: How did your family keep in contact with your dad? Were you able to? Because he was somewhere else.

AO: Yes, he was... from the Multnomah County jail, he was transferred to Missoula, Montana, to a camp there for the Japanese internees. And then from there was transferred to New Mexico, then stayed at a camp down there. But we were allowed to write letters and correspond with him.

JK: Did he say anything about his camp life or what it was like for him?

AO: No. I think the only thing I can remember is that he was given the option to, if he wanted to, he and the family, could move back to Japan instead of staying here. And we turned that option down right away and said, no, we did not want to go to Japan. So that was not something that we considered doing.

JK: And how long was your dad away from you? All through your internment at Minidoka, or did he get to join you at Minidoka?

AO: Well, I left Minidoka in November of '43. I graduated in June, spent the summer working in farms around Idaho, and then left in November. So he was not there at all during the time that I was in camp, so he came back after I had gone.

JK: So he did come to Minidoka?

AO: Yes, he did, I don't know exactly what year.

JK: Okay, to rejoin.

AO: Yeah, but he rejoined my mother there.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.