<Begin Segment 16>

LT: Well, as the Issei and the Nisei tried to rebuild their community and integrate within the Hood River larger community, bowling became one way that you made connections. How did you become a bowler?

TT: Well, four of five of us used to run around together. We used to like to go out and do something, so bowling was the place where we were invited. So we all went there, bowling, started bowling.

LT: Where did you go?

TT: To Hood River Alley where Rini and his wife was... well, he bought the place, and he came from back east, but I think he came with another guy, and then he started bowling and the other guy, I don't know what he did. I think he was, had a service station for a while, I don't know what happened to him. But they really treated us pretty good. So where you're welcome, you go there, so we started bowling and didn't know what, anything else to do except maybe a movie or something. But we didn't go to movies too much, or we'd maybe go to Portland or something, but when we went to Hood River, we had bowling all the time.

LT: And this was after the war. And so you and other Nisei went together and learned to bowl. Could you join the league?

TT: Huh?

LT: Could you join a bowling league?

TT: No. At that time we couldn't join the league.

LT: So how did you participate then?

TT: Well, we had a Nisei league. Just the Niseis bowled. We'd make four, I think I must have been four teams we made up and we started bowling in the Nisei League. Then we used to match game with Portland or something, have kind of a small tournament. In fact, we were... we were, started bowling before even Portland did. I guess Portland had other things to do, so Hood River only had bowling to do, so they were more of us at the beginning. And then 'til 1950, then we can start bowling with the other white teams.

LT: And what happened in 1950?

TT: I don't know if the National Bowling League, if they forced them to let Niseis join or what, but anyway, that's when they started taking us.

LT: Yes, my understanding is that the American Bowling Congress in 1951 abolished their whites-only policy.

TT: Yeah, that's probably it.

LT: And then how did that change bowling in Hood River?

TT: It didn't make no difference. They started taking us, I guess. There's a couple of teams that weren't too friendly with us, but the rest of them were okay, so it didn't bother us too much. Everybody knew who, what team wasn't very friendly to us, they're the Elks and the firemen. There was two teams, they weren't very friendly. So when we started out, the first couple of us, this one hakujin guy came and asked us to join his team so we could play. And then later on the next year I think, we joined that league, but then we joined as a Nisei team. And a couple of teams joined in, and that's how it got started.

LT: And then after a while you had integrated teams.

TT: Yeah.

LT: So how long did you bowl, Taylor?

TT: Well, that bowling alley closed down. I don't know when the New Orchard Lane came in, so everybody went up there in that league. I went up there for a couple of years and then I quit. My back was bothering me so I quit. So I kind of quit early and I haven't bowled since. [Laughs] I don't think I can lift a ball anyway.

LT: Times have changed, haven't they? In recent years, Japanese Americans have gained redress and have spoken out for civil rights. The government has apologized for the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. What are your thoughts? You experienced the war, you were placed in camp, the government has apologized and said that was a mistake. You lived through that. What do you think about all this?

TT: Well, I think it was pretty good that they realized everything. Everybody could use the money, I guess. There's a few people that didn't think we should get it. Most of 'em, I don't know about most of 'em, they probably went along with the government. They paid it.

LT: And you're talking about the twenty thousand dollar reparations?

TT: Yeah.

LT: And what did you think about receiving that money?

TT: Oh, I thought it was okay. I thought we deserve it.

LT: Okay. And can you tell why?

TT: Well, the way they treated us, I guess.

LT: Okay.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.