Granada Pioneer, Vol. I, No. 61

              Page  8­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________PIONEER____________May 1, 1943	
A NISEI  VIEWS  CHICAGO
                     IT SEEMS TO ME
         BY   TAD  UYENO
continued from page 2----------	
the major  defense  factories.
   Jobs, of course, are numerous in non-
defense, non-essential industries, and
the employers are slowly beginning to
hire Americans of Japanese ancestry-be-
cause  of labor shortage.
    Demand for domestics is continually
growing.   Unfortunately, however, the
pay is low and not many nisei are willing
to work as  domestics.
   For those who think of their future,
consideration must be given to entering
industries which will flourish and prosper
during the post-war period, even though
the wage-scale is considerably lower than
that of defense   industries.
A  JAPANESE  COLONY?
   That is the question uppermost in the
minds of the majority of the nisei here
in Chicago, as more and more evacuees
arrive from the relocation centers.
   As a matter of fact, the old-time
residents are glad to see the nisei get-
ting out of the centers and dropping back
to civilization.   On the other hand, they
are alarmed lest the Caucasion public
resent the excessive influx of Japanese
into one community or district and thus
focus the community attention to them.
   Undoubtedly, the Japanese are marvelous
"colonizers."    All seem to flock to one
point rather than to  absorb themselves
into widely separated areas.
   Three months ago, hardly an Oriental,
particularly an American-Japanese, could
be found on the streets of the Loop dis-
trict (main shopping center).   But now
they are becoming more conspicuous and
they seem to saunter in groups.
   There's no harm walking with friends,
to be sure.    Yet this creates a bad im-
pression on fellow citizens unfortunately
during wartime.   They think of us as
sticking together and they draw evil con-
notations.
HOSTILE   LANDLORDS
   Chicago is one of the cities having
an acute housing shortage.   Because of
heavy war industry concentration here,
there aren't enough houses to accommodate
all the workers.   Naturally, there are
quite a lot of discriminations on the
part of landlords in renting their proper-
ties, not only race prejudice but on the
size   of  families,   too. 
   Hence, the nisei are meeting consider-
able difficulties renting apartments and
homes.    Many "for rent" advertisements
in newspapers specify "adults  only."
Some definitely state desire to rent to
Catholics   or  some   other  religious   group.
    Greatly accentuated by high-tension
feeling against the Japanese as a result
of last week's release of news pertain-
ing to the execution of the interned A-
merican fliers in Japan, landlords in
Chicago and elsewhere will be more re-
luctant    to rent apartments' and homes  to
the Japanese.
   One nisei remarked recently:  "It's
easier to find a job than to locate an
apartment.  God, it’s discouraging, though.
Some will tell you:  'We can't want any
Japs in our building.'   Some owners are
willing to rent to us, but they are a-
fraid that the other tenants might not
like  us.     So there you are."
AVAILABLE   JAPANESE   FOOD
   Most of the Japanese in the relocation
centers miss Japanese food.  Majority
of the Japanese in the centers are cer-
tain that they can't get to eat the kind
of food they used to have.    Well--they'll
have a surprise coming to them if they
ever  land  in Chicago.
   For here  are what can be purchased in
this town:
   Tofu, aji, chopsticks, miso, shoyu--
about as good as Kikkoman brand, dried
shrimps,   rice,   and bean sprouts.
   The above mentioned items are sold by
a Chinese dealer who takes orders by
phone and delivers them to you immediately.
   Incidentally, rice is $8.25 per 100-
pound sack.  The price of shoyu is  $1.25
per gallon.
   In Manzanar, the former Japanese store-
keepers were selling a sack of rice for
$10.75.
FOOD PRICES AND RATIONING
   Here's  the'   list     of prices   for  fresh,
vegetables   in the city’s  retail markets:
   1 pound tomatoes            25ȼ
   1 green pepper                  15ȼ
   1 pound, string beans       15ȼ
   1  pound  cabbage           17½ȼ
   1 pound potatoes               8ȼ
   3 grapefruits                      25ȼ
   1  dozen oranges              55ȼ
   1 basket strawberries       35ȼ
   It's no longer those good old days
back in California, as far as vegetable
prices are concerned.   Vegetables are
indeed high.   But not only the vegetarians
are having a tough time, for the meat
prices  are   just as bad.
   Hamburgers were 42 cents a pound for
quite a while, and sirloin steaks are 52
cents per pound.    Beef stew is now 32
cents  a  pound.
   Living costs have gone up.   To counter-
balance this, the wage scale is consider-
ably higher than what it used to be, even
in non-essential indudtries.
   The point ration system was a bless-
ing to the common man.   Shortly before
meat was rationed, the average housewife
was not able to buy meat at all.   Now
she can get all she wants, that is, all
she has   the  ration points  for.
   Poultry should be rationed, too.   Be-
fore meat  rationing went into effect
poultry could be bought for 42 cents a
pound.   Now the price is 62 cents a pound.
And even at that price, chicken is hard
to buy.    		--Tad Uyeno