For many Japanese Americans, life in the camps changed the lives of many in their day to day existence. Gone was the privacy all had prior to camp. Now everyone had to eat at mess halls and share restroom and bathroom facilities. Families were crammed into one room and parents were challenged to keep the family unit together.

"My dad being a civic leader used to push that all families should eat together. Well you know, when your fourteen, fifteen, you don’t want to eat with your family so all the guys used to eat together. We couldn’t always eat together anyway cause my mother was a dishwasher. So we couldn’t eat with her." (Robert U.)