<Begin Segment 28>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: You returned to Seattle in 1936.

YI: We returned to Seattle in 1945 or so.

TY: I mean, it was 1936 when you returned to Seattle from Japan.

YI: That was 1936.

TY: That means, there were about six years, five or six years before the war broke out. Did you sense that a war might break out?

YI: After the war broke out, we went to a camp. We returned. Then Reverend Ichikawa retired, and he died. He died in 1968. Nineteen fifty-eight. Two or three years later, I came here.

TY: So, when you came to Seattle from Japan in 1936, there were still five years or so before the war broke out.

YI: That's right.

TY: Did you sense any sign that the U.S. and Japan might go to war?

YI: No. I didn't know very much. My younger sister lives in California now, and her husband had lived in America before. As a minister. He returned to Japan and married my sister. He felt that the U.S. and Japan might go to war and debated whether he should go to America or not. But he took a chance and decided to come here. Then a year later, the war broke out. So they have three daughters but the two oldest ones were born in camp.

TY: So that means your sister's husband could see signs of war. A sign of war starting soon.

YI: When he was a bachelor, when he was single, he came to America alone. He returned to Japan to find a bride and married my sister. He felt that a war would break out soon and wondered if they should go or not. But he took a chance. I am glad they did. If they had stayed in Japan, they would have suffered terribly after the war. We were taken to a camp, but we never suffered from a shortage of food. [Laughs] The government fed us without fail.

TY: Did your husband or other people know that a war was approaching?

YI: Well, just before the war, the government officials, ambassador and embassy workers returned quickly. Mr. Kurisu, the ambassador was Mr. Kurisu. All the top officials returned early. So probably people thought a war was inevitable.

TY: Was he an American ambassador in Japan?

YI: What?

TY: Mr. Kurisu. Where was he?

YI: Oh, a Japanese.

TY: The ambassador in Japan.

YI: The embassy workers got the news early. That a war was breaking out. So everybody went back.

TY: Did you sense that in Seattle? The mood in Seattle. Judging from the way things were in Seattle, did you think a war would break out?

YI: Do you mean the top officials?

TY: When you were living in Seattle and looked around you, did you imagine a war would break out?

YI: No, I didn't think so. Then one day, we were gathered for a temple bazaar or something. Somebody said he just heard on the radio. Pearl Harbor was bombed. We said, "You must be kidding." But it was all true.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.