<Begin Segment 3>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the curfew was ordered. Japanese Americans couldn't go outside after 8 p.m. How did you feel when you heard about it?

AT: That, we couldn't help. As a rule... Japanese wouldn't do such bad things anyway. We weren't affected much anyway, but they were afraid of us. I think that was the reason. So, well, we couldn't go out after 8 p.m. Also, the light, we were told that we should keep it from going through the windows. They said such things.

TY: It must have been inconvenient. Until 8 o'clock...

AT: It was inconvenient. But, we entered through this kind of windows. Then, some neighbors warned us by saying, "Light is coming through your place," and there were people who put paper there so that light wouldn't come through. But, we said that we didn't care. We said we didn't care if light came through or not. We had a family back then. Then, we said that we could just leave it. But, there wasn't anybody in my neighborhood who was warning others like that.

TY: Was it when you lived on the Boren Avenue? Or on the Yesler?

AT: Boren Avenue.

TY: It was the Boren Avenue. And, those Issei, those Issei who were leaders in the community were taken to the iminkan by FBI for investigation one after another. I am sure you heard about such things from many people.

AT: There were many people. Well, we didn't go.

TY: Weren't you worried?

AT: Hmm, we weren't worried. Nobody was taken away, nobody did anything wrong. But, that, those unexpected were, those who had positions in Japanese American associations, those were taken away. We couldn't do anything about Japanese American society, we just agreed to whatever they decided. They were saying that we should do more. And, those who were working at such places were all taken away.

TY: Then, you were not worried about your husband being taken away by FBI at all?

AT: Yeah, he didn't go. At home, I mean, he was working at the Frye, he was working for hakujin. So, he didn't go. My friend's mistaa [Ed. note: Mister. Issei commonly refer married man as such.] went. Because he was working somewhere else. He said that he was treated exactly as he was in the jail. I heard about it later, her husband told me about it. He said that food was the only thing he received to his content. They didn't feed him anything decent though. Then, later, everybody went into the camp, right? Back then, everybody was in great fear. Because they didn't know when they were receiving the order that told them which group was entering the camp. So, anytime, they sealed things in boxes. They put things in their suitcases so they would be prepared to leave anytime.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.