<Begin Segment 11>

LT: And then you left for Tule Lake in Northern California, and that was in July of 1942?

MN: Gosh, I can't remember the date that we closed Pinedale.

LT: Well, what was it like to live in Tule Lake? How was it different from Pinedale?

MN: Well, we didn't go out very much because we were afraid of the other people that were there from California. We called them the yogores, Japanese... I don't know what you call it. But anyway, we were afraid to go out because we were afraid that we'd get attacked by the others in the other barracks that were there early.

LT: And what made you think that you might be attacked by them?

MN: Well, just hearsay, they said, "Don't go out," so we didn't go out at night at all. Well, we got acquainted with them, and they're just like the rest of us.

LT: But initially because they were from a different place?

MN: California, yeah.

LT: So there were stories about how California people might be different from Oregon people?

MN: Uh-huh.

LT: Were there any other worries that you had about being with other Japanese Americans who were from other locations?

MN: No. After we got acquainted, we were just like one happy family.

LT: How was Tule Lake different from Pinedale?

MN: It wasn't... we got to live with my folks. We had two rooms, and there was... let's see, six of us kids. And then Mom and Dad and my sister. So Dad moved the wall for them to be smaller and us to be all in one room.

LT: And did he need permission to do that?

MN: I don't think so. I think you were kind of on your own in camp.

LT: So he could make his own decisions. At camp you also, how did you spend your day?

MN: They had a lot of activities in camp, you know, like softball for the kids. I mean, we had... oh, we had all kinds of games. We had a sergeant that had a drill team, all in the drill team, and there was other... we played ball. Anyway, we were very busy playing.

LT: How about socially? What kinds of social events did you participate in in camp?

MN: They had dances that we went to. Of course, we went to church.

LT: Okay, can you tell us about the dances at camp?

MN: Well, there's a group of guys that play instruments, and they'd get together, they had a band, so we just went to dance. It wasn't date or anything, we just went there and danced.

LT: What kinds of dancing did you do?

MN: Oh, it could be jitterbug or waltzing or whatever.

LT: Were you a pretty good jitterbugger?

MN: Used to be.

LT: We won't ask you to perform.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2014 Oregon Nikkei Endowment and Densho. All Rights Reserved.