Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Jim Tsugawa Interview
Narrator: Jim Tsugawa
Interviewer: Alton Chung
Location: Portland, Oregon
Date: December 16, 2013
Densho ID: denshovh-tjim_3-01-0013

<Begin Segment 13>

AC: All right. Let's go back to September of 1942. You'd been in the assembly center for several months.

JT: Yes.

AC: And word comes down that you're leaving. What were you thinking, what were your feelings at the time, that you're leaving that area?

JT: See, I don't remember that. I don't remember anything about that, just that we were put on a train, and go back to Twin Falls, I believe.

AC: So they told you you were going to Twin Falls?

JT: No, no, not at all.

AC: So how did they get you from the assembly center to the trains?

JT: Probably army truck. No, let's see... yeah, I don't know.

AC: So they got you on the trains, and you're all crowded in. You said they pulled the blinds down?

JT: Yeah, pulled the blinds down.

AC: And did they tell you why?

JT: They didn't want us to, I guess not, to see where we were going.

AC: Were there any soldiers on the train?

JT: Yes.

AC: Were these passenger trains, or can you tell me, what was it like?

JT: I don't remember. I'm sure they had seats and everything, but I'm there were no sleeping berths.

AC: How long did it take you to go from Portland to Twin Falls?

JT: I don't know.

AC: So when you got to Twin Falls, how did they, what did they do when you got off the train?

JT: Well, I just surmised that they must have, army trucks taken us out to Minidoka.

AC: So do you remember your first vision of Minidoka?

JT: No.

AC: Do you remember what the living conditions were like in Minidoka, your first living quarters, your room?

JT: My room was, there were forty-four blocks, each block had twelve, we'll call them barracks, each barracks had about six, let's call them apartments. Each family had one apartment, and it was five people, four people, three people, and there must have been big apartment on the ends or something for big families. But again, it was just cots, and five in the family, five cots, a lightbulb with a pull string down and a potbellied stove that burned coal, I believe. And those buildings were made of plywood, tarpaper, and slats. Excuse me. And so in the wintertime, it was mighty cold, because I know it got really cold there. Summertime got mighty hot and dusty, and through the fall and winter months, you know, it was muddy, lots of mud.

AC: How many of you were in your family at the time that were sent to Minidoka?

JT: Let's see. Ike, Helen, Mom, Jim, George, five. Yeah, five. And then Ike was drafted out of Minidoka.

AC: So were you, do you remember which block you were in?

JT: Thirty. Block 30, and I think Block 29 had the mess hall. I think every other, I think the odd blocks had to have mess halls.

AC: Tell me about going for a meal in Block 29.

JT: I don't remember, but I think, I don't remember much about the food. Again, it was not gourmet.

AC: What were the toilet facilities and shower facilities like there?

JT: Well, it was, again, open. You have these stalls, there were no stalls. The commodes were just, you sat side by side. And again, I felt sorry for the women, you know, because they're a little more private than the guys, you know. Guys can just... that's not, they're not that embarrassed.

AC: What about the showers? Did you have hot water?

JT: Oh, yeah, there was hot water. But god, I don't remember much about that part of it.

AC: How far were the showers from your house, from your block?

JT: Oh, that was right in the center of the compound.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2013 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.