Densho Digital Archive - Mary Iwasaki Interview (denshovh-imary

<Begin Segment 21>

LL: And you mentioned your mother cooking Japanese food and taking classes to cook American food?

MI: I remember that.

LL: Where did she shop to get the food?

MI: Oh, there were grocery stores all around there, owned by Japanese. And of course, she was pretty independent. She never drove, that's right, she never drove, but she walked to these places and got her groceries.

LL: And then with regards to school, you mentioned that you wanted to go to school where your friend, where your friend was. Did you have a hard time convincing your parents to change school districts or to change the address so you could go to Washington?

MI: No, I just told them what I was going to do. I'm not sure if they understood, but I told them what I was going to do, and so I did it. [Laughs]

LL: You sound very independent.

MI: Well, I'm very... maybe too much. [Laughs]

LL: It makes you strong. You mentioned the food and not knowing what you were eating at camp or at the assembly center. What do you recall, or do you know now what you were eating?

MI: Well, all I know is there was some hideous thing that was all white, and it tasted like flour, I mean, you know, what flour would taste like if you ate flour like that. But I couldn't tell you what it was, and I still don't know to this day what I was eating. There were not too many like that, but there were some foods that... I'm sure they were not ethnic, because by that time I think I would have known about that, but it was very different.

LL: And then you also mentioned you read a lot, you escaped by reading.

MI: Uh-huh.

LL: So where did the books come from?

MI: Well, I bought them, and then I practically lived at the library, the main library downtown. And I'd check 'em out and that's where I'd get 'em.

LL: In camp, you mentioned, where did you get the books in camp?

MI: Well, it seems to me that somebody had a checkout library going, and I don't remember all the details, but I knew they had some kind of a system where you could borrow the books and read them.

LL: You referred to yourself, you used the word "chicken," and yet your life had changed so radically, and you had been through so much, and you acted so bravely and really thought for yourself. Why do you still use that word "chicken"?

MI: Well, because I'm not aggressive enough to stand up for what I think should be. I mean, little issues or... not issues so much, but just the fact that I'm just not aggressive enough to meet problems head on and try to solve them. I'd rather just retreat into my books and leave it at that.

LL: It sounds to me that that might be a cultural thing that was taught by the Japanese about not being, not standing up or not, you just go along.

MI: Right, exactly. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. But I just am still that way, then, because I don't think I've changed that much.

LL: I think that was all the additional questions that we had. But yeah, if you think of anything else that...

MI: I wish I could.

LL: ...that we wanted to expand on, or can you think of anything else? We kind of covered the ones that...

Off camera: I think you were very brave. You said, "I'm going to Washington High School, darn it, and I'm going to do it, and I'm going to do this," and you really were.

MI: Well, I think because of my friend Mae, that she was there and I was going to join her, I think that just gave me a little bit more courage than normally. If I had to do it by myself, I'm sure I wouldn't have.

LL: I agree. I think you were really... for a Nisei lady, I think you were very courageous and independent and strong, because a lot of, I think when it came to things that you felt very strongly about or you truly believed in, you were there speaking out and standing up. And that's a, I think that's really admirable.

MI: Well, I'm still chicken. [Laughs]

LL: Well, I think we're done.

MI: Oh, okay.