<Begin Segment 11>

BH: You mentioned that you didn't talk to your kids about camp. Why do you think that was?

AK: I don't know. It's probably because it was such a sad occasion.

BH: Did they ever ask you about -- how did your kids learn about their parents and grandparents being in camp?

AK: I'm sure we must have heard... the conversation would come up, but we never sat down and talked about the camp days. It just didn't seem right to have lived in a camp, for just being Japanese. But the children, after they came back, though, they never mentioned to me that they had any prejudice. Seemed like they blended in well with the community. So I'm not sure... we didn't talk about it.

BH: Why do you think that is, that people on the whole did not talk about their experiences.

AK: I think that's because we're Japanese. We just want to keep it to ourselves. I think that the Sansei, they're more free with their, what they think and what they feel. They're more Americanized. But, see, we were more Japanese. You think about the camp days, it's just kind of sad, though. Because the children didn't know. They're along with the other children, and I think they were happy. And I don't think we made it any sad, you know, by telling them sad stories.

BH: What were your barracks like at Minidoka compared to the stalls at the assembly center? What did the barracks look like at Minidoka?

AK: Well, it wasn't too much different. But I think that by that time, we had the children and the children played together, we accepted what we had to go through.

BH: So if you were to walk in to... if you were to describe to your grandchildren what it looked like when you walked through the doorway of your barracks at Minidoka, what did it look like?

AK: Well, that's the trouble with us, I think. We never sit down and talk to them about it. Maybe it's just too sad to mention it, I don't know. I never have talked to my grandchildren about our camp days. But there were some good times, we made some good friends.

BH: What did your barracks look like when you first got there? Was there furniture? What was in there?

AK: No. I think most of us used different apple boxes, but we managed all right.

BH: Apple boxes for chairs and tables?

AK: Uh-huh.

BH: Were their cots provided?

AK: We did have cots, yeah, we did have cots. But it was just a plain army cot, I guess.

BH: What were the winters like?

AK: It was pretty cold, because it did have, we have snow, we have sandstorms. I know when the sandstorm came, everybody come dashing in because it blows so hard.

BH: How did you keep warm in the winter with all the snow and living in a building that wasn't insulated?

AK: Well, I guess we just accepted it. I guess we had coal to burn? I forgot what we used to keep ourselves warm.

BH: Did you have a potbelly stove?

AK: Hmm?

BH: Did you have a potbelly stove?

AK: Yeah, that was what we had, I guess.

BH: And Jayne was born in Minidoka, and then who was your second child?

AK: Cheryl.

BH: Cheryl. And was she also born at camp?

AK: Yes, she was. I hate to say that two kids were born in camp, but they were.

BH: Did they ever talk about being born in camp to you?

AK: No, they don't, and I don't talk to them about it either. And I don't tell the grandkids, maybe it's a good idea to talk to them about it a little, but I haven't. If they see this tape, maybe they'll realize what it was like.

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