Taira Family Heritage ft. Grandma Jane and Auntie Yaeko

The main ideas from this information are about the experiences of the Tyra family during the Japanese internment camps. The family was located in Fowler, California, before being sent to the Tule Lake internment camp, which was for people considered suspicious. They were sent there because the grandfather had plans to repatriate to Japan. The camp experience involved lack of privacy, but also activities like baseball, dances, and education. The Japanese culture emphasized endurance and acceptance, so there were no revolts or protests. After being released, the family returned to the farm they had worked on before the camp. You have no comparison of what's good and what's bad. The bad times just make the good times even better. Exactly, absolutely. And it makes one grateful. I get up and I go, thank you, Kate. I'm still alive. I made another day. Mr. Benson, every day. And you know, you've got to remember to laugh. We do laugh a lot, our family. We do laugh. It's always fun to get together. I'm Kelly Pagodor, a current junior at Stanford, and whether or not you're a part of the family, this is the Tyra Family Heritage about the Japanese internment camps, the farm in Selma, and how the importance of family and traditions have been maintained throughout the years, from generation to generation, all told from the perspective of the two funniest and most wise women I know. All right, I'm here with my grandma, Jane, and her sister, Auntie Iko. It's May 12, 2024, Mother's Day, so happy Mother's Day to both of them. And, yeah, we're just going to get started. So, first question is, when and where were each of you born? Okay, well, this is Iko. I was born August 4, 1945, Tule Lake, California. I'm Grandma Jane. I was born January 28, 1947, Crystal City, Texas. Great. And Tule Lake and Crystal City, Texas, both considered internment camps. Before we get into the internment camps, where was our family located before you guys were born and also before the internment camps? We were living in Fowler, California, on the Blaney Ranch, and they were a very nice family. They allowed us to stay there. And Grandpa, my grandpa, would be Mr. Nakashima, my mom's father, did a lot of work for the elder Mr. Blaney. In fact, it was during the Depression, and the Blaneys couldn't even afford a car, so he would loan him his car to drive, yeah? So the Blaneys were very appreciative, and they told us, you know, when it was time to go to the camp, they said, well, you have a place to go to when you come back, so come back to our ranch, which is what they did after they got released. Anything else? See, mine's a little different because I was, you know, born after my sister when the war was totally over already, passed. You know, Japan surrendered and everything, and most of the people were going back to their homes and stuff. But in my case, I was sent to, that's why I was born in Crystal City, Texas. It's really called the Relocation Internment Camp, where they reunite families coming from different places. It was a justice camp. So it was, there was still, even the war over, and I was a U.S. citizen born there, and the camp was still under barbed wire fence and guards and everything yet. And my dad was one of the last people to lock up the camp, he told me. You know, so it's kind of strange that even after the war, we were still behind barbed wire fence, you know. And I felt like, gee, I'm a U.S. citizen. It felt like I was still in jail, you know, and that didn't seem right to me. You know, but that's how the situation was then. Can you guys go into a little more detail about why we were in the relocation camp? It had something to do with Great-Grandpa, right? Grandpa Tyra and all the people that were considered kind of questionable, all of those people ended up in Tule Lake. Other people ended up in other camps, you know, like Rohwer or... Manzanar. Manzanar or some other places. Tule Lake was the camp for those people that were considered suspicious. And why were they considered suspicious? Well, for whatever reason, my Grandpa Nakashima, he was... I don't know what I remember. Collecting money or something for... Or they were going to repatriate to Japan. They were going to be Christians. When they filled out the form to serve or not. Yes. What was that called? You have to answer this questionnaire, yes, yes, or yes, no, you know. He definitely was not going to say yes, yes to every question. I think there were only two questions anyway. Would you defend this country? He goes, yes. Would you fight, you know, overseas? He goes, no. I will stay here and fight, but not go overseas to fight for the country. Got it. But the main reason I think we were sent to Tule Lake was because Ojisan had plans to go back to Japan, repatriate back to his country. But he never went. Got it. Wow. Okay. So can you guys explain just our family's experience that you were told from Grandma and Grandpa of how Tule Lake was? Yes. What was the whole internment camp experience? Grandpa had a lot of stories. Some were funny. The thing of it was, he never mentioned internment camp until I came home from school one day and asked him, because in my history class, there was a little paragraph that said Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. And, I mean, that really made me embarrassed. I thought, well, I'm a Japanese, you know, what do they think? So I go home and I asked Grandpa Tyler, I said, do you know the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor? He goes, well, let me tell you what happened after that. Because he never ever talked about it until then. And you were born in one. Yeah. He never said anything about it until I came home from high school and mentioned about Pearl Harbor. And he goes, well, there's more to it than that, you know, because after that, all these camp stories started to come up. Until then, we heard nothing. He never mentioned anything. A lot of families, like all of my friends, a lot of their parents won't talk to their children about what happened. They just want to put that aside and, you know, don't even want to talk about camp. But my mom and dad shared all the stories. Yeah, they did. They openly wanted to tell us how camp was. So we're fortunate to know how they were treated and what kind of things went on in the camp, you know, what kind of activities they did, you know, what the everyday life was like. Yeah, what was like the everyday life. My mom's sisters, they were, you know, they're at the age where you're young and you want to get married, so they probably had fun because you just go to these dances there. Oh, and then Grandpa Tyra, you know, they were all in barracks. And the barracks hold four or five families. But like I said, there's no privacy because the only thing that separated the families was a rope with a blanket or a sheet or something hanging there. So one end of the barracks could hear what they're saying on the other end of the barracks. There was no privacy at all. So Grandpa Tyra used to go visit the Nakashima girls, you know, like Grandma Tyra and her two sisters. And all this time people thought that he was going there to see Auntie Togi, but that wasn't the case. He ended up marrying Grandma Tyra. Wow, so just for more context, Grandpa Tyra, was his siblings there as well? He was the only one. Okay, he was the only one. He came to the U.S. from Hawaii when he was 16, thinking he was going to better his life and, you know, work here and make money. He was only 16 when he came here to work. His siblings were still in Hawaii. There were camps in Hawaii at that time. I didn't know that, but there were. And then on Grandma Tyra's side, how many siblings were at the camp? All of them. All of them. Their whole family? Mm-hmm. Okay, together. And then Grandpa Tyra was by himself. Yes. Wow. Yeah. So Grandpa and Grandma, they got married in camp. You mentioned also like activities that our family did. What were some of the stories that you heard? Well, I know Grandpa played baseball. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He played baseball. They had organized things there for the Buddhist church, you know. They had dances. Dances for the young ladies, you know. Mm-hmm. Probably the young kids had a lot of fun, you know. Yeah, and then you got fed. You got a hot place to stay. Mm-hmm. There were schools. There was education. There was a library. Mm-hmm. They had all the amenities. Of course, not like outside, but they weren't deprived of those things, you know. Mm-hmm. I don't know how the food was there. Yeah. So did they have like roles that they had to play during their stay there? Well, Dad was like a guard one time, because he mentioned he kind of fell asleep guarding. You have to take turns, you know, shifts and stuff like that, you know. He didn't fall asleep. There were two of them that have to guard, have a guard duty. And the one, he says, well, there's no use both of us losing sleep. So he says, well, I'm going to go sleep. And so he let the other guy do the guard duty, and he fell asleep, and then he got fired. Wait. Okay. So there was still freedom, even though they were inside barbed wires. Mm-hmm. Not almost. It was nice that all the Japanese Americans were together, so they weren't discriminated against in the outside world and just after Pearl Harbor. But you kind of touched on it before that your dad, my great-grandpa, didn't mention it to you until you brought it up. And I think that says a lot about the Japanese culture in itself, right? Mm-hmm. Can you add on to that a little more of how the Japanese responded to even being put into internment camps or from what you've heard? To me, the Japanese culture, seeing it at my age, Japanese people do a lot of this Japanese word called gaman. That means just take it, endure it, don't make waves, you know. A lot of people that generation did that. Not all, but a lot of people noticed that and they said, just gaman, just take it and accept it, you know. That's what I noticed a lot. So there were no revolts or no protesting or strikes or anything like that? No, they didn't do things like that. Yeah. They just said, okay, we're here, we're going to make the best of it. Mm-hmm. Wow. So once our family were released after Crystal City in Texas, where did they go after that? To the farm where, you know, the Blaney family, the Caucasian family that we farmed under them, they said, you always have a place to come home to. So once we got there, they kept some of our private things. We got back and we got to work on the farm and make an income again and start all over life. So we were very fortunate. In fact, Mr. Blaney, the old, the elder Mr. Blaney, the property that they owned, where we went back to, he said, okay, you can grow strawberries. I'll give you, I'll let you use an acre or two to grow strawberries. So that's what they did. And that's how they saved enough money to move from Fowler to the house in Selma. Got to buy a ranch, that Selma ranch. That's how they were able to buy that. That's how they saved that much money, thanks to this Caucasian family that gave them the opportunity to work and, you know, grow strawberries. Mm-hmm. So you were lucky enough as a family to have something to go back to because a lot of Japanese Americans at the time, when they were called into the internment camps, they had to drop everything. Well, some of them, some of them leave it to friends or neighbors or somebody to watch over until they come back. But sometimes, that didn't happen. They either stole it or gave it away. And then when they come back, there's nothing. You have to really start over, you know. It's really sad. So our family was lucky in that sense. Very lucky. But the reason why the Blaineys were so good to our family because of my grandpa, because during the Depression, he helped. He worked for the Blaineys for nothing. He didn't get paid. He loaned them their car because they couldn't afford to buy a car. So they, in gratitude and repayment, let us all go back to their place after we got out of camp. Wow. So we were very, very fortunate to have that Caucasian family be so kind to us, you know. We wouldn't be where we are right now without them. That's what it sounds like. I wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. But I think that's such a cool, like, experience because that, even just you guys talking about that now, it shows how giving in one circumstance will then allow you to receive later on. Paying it forward. Paying it forward. And one time we, Jane and I, went to Selma for my class reunion, and we decided to go visit Loris Blainey. He was the son of the elder Blainey that allowed my grandpa to come. And he was so surprised to see us. He says, come in, I'm going to show you the house your grandpa made for us. Grandpa built the house that he's still living in now. He was a carpenter. He was a great craftsman. It was a very nice house. Yes. They live in Selma. Loris still lives there. I have pictures of him and Jane. They're very grateful to you. And then what year did we buy the house? In Selma? In Selma. I was in grammar school. I was in the fourth grade, I think. And I was in the second. And then they raised strawberries. It was all vineyards before, all grapes. He pulled out a lot of the grapes, raised strawberries. Then he planted trees, plums, nectarines, peaches. Was there also Japanese Americans that were farmers in that area? Was that common? In Fowler, there were a lot. There was a lot of Japanese. How far was Fowler from Selma? Maybe five miles. Five miles. Because we used to go, Grandpa used to take us to the Fowler Buddhist Church. And we had Sunday school class in a class that was underneath, like a dungeon underneath. And he would come home, he'd be working, and he'd come home and say, Okay, you fellas get ready, I'm going to take you to church. So he'd take us to church, drop us off, and then he'd stay there and either talk to his buddies, or he'll come back later and pick us up. It was important for him to make sure we went to church. Yeah, that we went to church. So important that he stopped work to do that. Since we're here, might as well talk a little bit about the Selma property and kind of how that was. I feel like that's a big part of our family history. Most of our living was there, yeah. And that was how our families lived their lives for a good amount of time, on a farm in Selma. And I didn't get to experience that firsthand, but it sounds like it was super fun. A fun place to be and grow up. Yep. Can you guys explain kind of how the property was? It was a run-down fountain. You had to really pull on the weeds and really work hard to build it up to where it was. And I'd get rid of a lot of the things, grapes and plants and strawberries and fruit trees. But we were very poor. But we didn't know anything different. So it was fun for us to create our own toys or just have fun in the dirt. They bought that property. The vineyard, it was full of post weeds. These weeds get like six feet tall, taller than the grapes. And so they had to, it was kind of run down, actually. Run down, yeah. But the grapes were still good. Grapes, you know, grape vines last for a long time. So they cleaned it all up and made, they worked hard. We even had to go out there and pick grapes. And I used to complain, I'd go, my friends don't do that. They'd go, I don't care. You work on a family, you've got to work. I'd go, okay. But we all worked hard on the farm. We'd pick grape, pack fruit, pick strawberries. I mean, at the time, you got mad because you had to work so hard. And a lot of our friends who lived in the city didn't have to. But looking back on it now, it just taught us so much to appreciate things and the value of money and family working together. That was all taught because of that, you know, living a poor life. But it was a fun life, too. See, but we could see Obaachan worked hard. Mama and Daddy worked hard. They didn't complain. They just worked and did what they had to do to support us, right? But it wasn't all work. Okay, in the summertime, we all get in the car and we go to the ocean and we go stay in a place, pitch up a tent and stay there for a few days. It's all in a day, yeah. Yep. And Grandma would make us a duffel bag. She'd sew us and pitch the tent and make our hot dogs. But, gosh, we just looked so forward to that one vacation because right after the harvest was over, he would treat us to that, one time to go to the ocean, the ocean. So it's very memorable to us to appreciate a vacation. And we'd play in the ocean and the sand, you know. We thought that was the greatest thing ever. Yeah. That's amazing. And it does sound like literally growing up on the farm set you up for life. I think so. Yeah. You learn the value of hard work, honesty, and, you know, integrity. Working together as a family. Yeah. And how would you say being so close to your family and you even as sisters impacted, like, what you wanted for your future and, like, having your own family? Do you think about that at all or do you think that impacted? I think so. I think what we learned when I got married and have kids, I kind of instilled that in, you know, your mom and auntie Karen. Hard work. Hard work. You all have good work ethics. You know, a lot of people don't anymore. Things like that. But, you know, you learn from seeing. Seeing. Right. Doing. Our parents worked hard. Set by example. Yeah. They worked hard for what they wanted and then get rewarded for it. So work hard but have fun when you have fun. Yeah. That's how they say it. Good balance. Yeah. And do both. You can do both. And you don't have to be rich to do that. You don't. In fact, money doesn't always cure all ills, you know. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's what a lot of people say. Yeah. It's nice but it's not everything. It isn't. So for those who don't know, my grandma and her sister, my auntie, they lived a block away from each other. Did you guys ever think you would live so close to each other? I never in my life thought I'd live next to my sister. She actually found this house for me. Yeah. She said, you've got to come over here and see. I said, I can't buy a house over there. I don't have no money, you know. But it worked out that way. And she did things for me. I do things for her. So I appreciate her a lot, yeah. Wow. It works both ways. Yeah. I know. Well, I see it too. And I think it's allowed us to have dinners or brunches like we did today and get together as a family. Yeah. See, that's the most important thing is a family. Family is very important to all of us. So going back to Grandpa and how he came from Hawaii, when did you guys get to go visit other family that are on the island? Reunions are one. The first reunion when we were in Hawaii with the anti-sauce. So you guys were at the first reunion. The first reunion. And what was this year's reunion? How many? Ten. At the beginning, it was only every five years. But then as the five years went on, we said, oh, that's too long because some of the older ones were dying. So, oh, let's do it every three years. So we did that for a while until finally it was every other year. Because we used to take turns. First it's Hawaii. Then it's the mainland. Then it's Hawaii. Then another. We host. They host. We host. They host. Yeah. They like to come here and we like to go there. They like to come here for gambling. They love gambling. So you've been to those. Yeah. You've been to those. I have. And I've enjoyed them. And as I've gotten older, I realize the importance of it. And knowing extended family. Yeah. And how great-grandpa has started such a great tradition. Yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's great. There are still a lot of relatives that live in Hawaii. A lot of them came to the mainland. But they were all grateful to Grandpa Tyra because he's the one. He would tell all his nephews, oh, yeah, we want to come work here on the mainland. He'd go, oh, yeah, yeah, just come on over. Come on over. Come to my house. They would stay at our house. On the farm. On the farm. Wow. There were seven of us in the family, but he still invited his nieces and nephews to come live with us so they could better themselves. Come and make money. Yeah. So my mom, you know, great-grandma, she had to take care of people all the time. Cook for them, wash for them. You know, money. But she took them all in. Yeah. Wow. So they're all grateful. They never forgot that. Yeah. My mom and dad could take them in. Yeah. When we used to go to the ocean when we were young, we had just a regular sedan, but all seven of us were in one car with our little duffel bag of clothes. Oh, wow. Seven of us. Seven people in a car. No seatbelts. Wow. But those were the days that you guys looked forward to. That was the fun part, yeah. It's amazing. Obaachan made a bento, nigiri, egg roll, and the beef teriyaki. And then we had some tsukemono. So delicious to eat down on the beach. Yeah. We never forget it. Little things like that. And we didn't have, she didn't have like a fancy container to put it in. So she put it in this metal container, I think, that used to hold tofu or something. So it was a little metal box like that that had all our nigiris and stuff in there. That's our little picnic. We looked forward to eating at the beach, yeah. We stayed in a tent that didn't have a bottom. It had the center pole. So it was a sand bottom, yeah. And so we had to put all our duffel bags along the bottom to keep the sand and the wind out out of the tent. And where was this? Where did you guys go? It used to be Pismo Beach. They had a state park. And you just paid a dollar to stay there. Not at the beginning. Not at the beginning. We didn't park anywhere. We didn't just park anywhere. We pitched up a tent. Yeah. And then you had to pay. Wow. Even at that, it was only a dollar. This is a little bit unrelated towards closing up, but what advice would you give to your younger self on the farm? To my younger self on the farm? Yeah. Oh, thinking of how I am now, what would I have said to myself then? Yeah. I would have said, work hard, don't complain, eat what they feed you, be kind. Be kind. Be kind. Yeah. And take care of your family. Yes. Be good to your parents. Yeah. And you guys both took care of great-grandma and great-grandpa? We always lived together. Because did your grandparents live with you at the farm? Yes. Yeah. Your great-grandparents? Yeah. We all lived together. Great-grandpa, great-grandma. So many people in the house. Seven of us sat around a table like this. Three, four generations. And he, grandpa, insisted that we all sit down and eat dinner together. Wow. And talk. And if he couldn't make it, he'd say, okay, you folks, you fellas go eat. I'll go deliver the fruit. And I'll be back and I'll eat later. He wanted the family to eat together. He always did. Because that's when everybody sat around and talked and complained or whatever. Stayed to peace. Wow. But they never complained much. You're filming me, though. Yeah, I used to love to talk. I kept my mouth shut. She always had something to say, which is good. She was a strength in that, you know. Grandpa and I would always be having these discussions. Just not necessarily arguing. Discussions. I always had something to say. Grandma was very quiet. But I have to give grandma credit. Because her mother, great-grandpa, or Jisung, until he died, we all lived together, right? So she's getting directions from her mother. Oh, do this, do that, do this. And then there's grandpa. So she's stuck in the middle of two generations, right? Wow. She's a strong lady. Yeah. She was a strong woman to take it from Mama was. What do you think? She was a great example of a Japanese... Culturally, she... Oh, she's very culturally. She was raised in Japan. You know, came back, came back here. No, she was born. Yeah, where was she born? She was born in Fowler. But, Jisung sent her to school, high school in Japan, thinking that they would all go back to Japan. So he sent her over. But, that's why when we went to Tule Lake, you know, later on, that was his intent to go back. That's why he sent her there to... Get educated. Get educated. And she came back, but they never went to Japan. So she had a Japanese education in high school. And knew all the cultural things about everything about Japan. But yet, she's American here. She had both. In Japanese, fluent Japanese, fluent English. So, I would consider her the silent... She had a silent strength about her. Silent strength. Now that I look at it, yeah. She may have been quiet, but... And would you say you guys had always wanted to kind of be like that growing up? Or did you want to be different? I wish I was more assertive, you know. I was more the kind that... Walk ten feet behind your husband, that kind of thing. Just obey, kind of thing. But... I wouldn't. I wish I was more like my older sister. But I think that has to do with birth order. Birth order. And your personality. You're born with it, you know. Definitely. Yeah. I think I've gotten stronger being more independent on my own now, you know. So, it's okay. I guess, what's one piece of advice you would give to... Either all the grandchildren, or future kids in the family. I would say... That you would want to pass on. Pass on. Yeah. That, be close to your family. Absolutely. They're the most important. Family and then friends. Family first. And friends, yeah. Be compassionate. Be kind to people. I mean, I know there are families where siblings, they don't get along. They don't talk to each other. They don't see each other. I mean, that's sad, considering... I mean, you were all born and raised... Probably not raised the same way, because it depends on how you... Each person was different. And it's okay for them to be different in a family. That's good. I mean, they can all be alike. Yeah. I think you're just considered very lucky to have a family that can get along and, you know, be close. I'm just grateful every day that I'm fortunate to have that, because I see other people that don't, and it's so sad. And even if we don't see Uncle Byron... You know, we rarely see him, right? Yeah. But he's very close. We're all very close. For sure. He would drop everything for us, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep, I'm very grateful. It's probably the way they raised us. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I think you guys have also done a good job. Thank you. For us as grandchildren, I think we know the importance, through the family reunions from when we were little, but also just the family dinners and spending Christmas together and Thanksgiving, but also this summer, hanging out, out from kids, but also until now. And as we get older... I really see it. And I've seen my grandchildren, and I say, okay, I must have did something right. I can see it in the kids, how they ask, and I'm proud of them. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, I think you guys have just instilled that in them. Yeah, I hope so. I hope so, but, yeah, be kind to each other, yeah. Yep. Well, those are all the questions that I have. Thank you. So thank you for sharing. So I have a question for you, though. Mm-hmm. How do you see our family? How do you see all our relatives? I mean, our immediate family. Immediate family. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I consider our immediate family, Jane and Byron, and then you guys, and then Mark. That's our immediate family. Yeah. When I think of everyone, I think I think of it in a way that you guys see it, too. I know comparison is not a good thing, but I do think about our friends, and I realize that from when I was really young, that not everyone has such close relationships with family, and especially cousins. So I knew how important family was from the beginning, but also, as I get older, I just get more grateful. I can literally call or text anyone about anything, and then we're also there for each other in the hard times. Yep. But also checking in with one another. Not only cousins, but also people. Support, yeah. Yeah. The support you get is very important. It's very important. Mm-hmm. We're just so blessed in that way because anything happens at any time, we can call anyone. I've never had a time where I felt like, oh, I don't have anyone to talk to. We always have someone to talk to, and that's where the importance of family comes in, I think. We have each other's backs. Yes, always. That's what it is. Good project. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for joining me. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Thank you. Thanks for listening to what my Grandma Jane and Auntie Iko had to say about our family heritage. I hope you learned something new because I did. I feel so grateful. The opportunity to go to college so close to my family has been a blessing in my life. This family has shaped me who I am today. Love you guys so much. ♪♪♪