<Begin Segment 13>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: Then on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed. Do you remember the day of the Pearl Harbor bombing?

YI: What?

TY: The first attack, Pearl Harbor.

YI: Oh, yes. That day, we had a party or something. It was Sunday, wasn't it? Then someone told us what the radio said. That Pearl Harbor was bombed. We were all surprised. Some of us were in Portland. YBA, a young men's theater group. Stage play. They were performing in Portland. Then the war started and so they returned right away. They were all surprised. Then all the important people in town were taken away by the FBI.

TY: Were they expecting it?

YI: Nobody knew.

TY: But some people might have felt a war might start...

YI: Some people might have guessed a war would start... the Consulate General and ambassador returned one after another. We felt there was something going on. But we never expected a war would start that early. So we were all surprised.

TY: Well, as you mentioned, from the next day on the Issei were taken away by FBI. How did you hear about that? How did you know those people were arrested?

YI: Nobody did anything illegal. There were no spies. That was only because this country was afraid, but it did not achieve anything. Though they arrested the Issei men and others...

TY: Then how did you find out what happened?

YI: I think they didn't like the Japanese style. That's why they arrested Japanese Language School teachers first. Buddhism was also a problem, because it was different from the American style.

TY: Then were some of your temple members arrested?

YI: Yeah. Buddhist ministers who worked at the same church for a long time were all arrested. New ministers were not arrested. Christian church ministers were also arrested.

TY: Even Christian church ministers?

YI: Because they were Japanese.

TY: Japanese organization...

YI: Because they were heads. But that did not serve anything.

TY: Yes, but at that time many people were taken...

YI: Yeah. The U.S. was afraid.

TY: Then you saw all those people who were active in the community arrested one by one, and you must have thought your husband would also be taken away soon. Didn't you worry when your husband might be arrested? How soon would he be taken?

YI: No. He was late. It was hard for him to just wait calmly and so he said he wished they would come soon. [Laughs]

TY: So he was arrested at the end of April. It was three or four months after.

YI: Was it the end of April? Was he in Missoula first?

TY: Yes.

YI: Oh, well...

TY: He went to Missoula first. In Montana. Then he went to Louisiana.

YI: Yes, he went to Louisiana.

TY: He went to Livingston and then Santa Fe, New Mexico and finally Texas...

YI: Crystal City.

TY: He went to many places.

YI: Our family got together there.

TY: So you spent restless days for four or five months. Wondering when your husband would be taken away. Did you pack his bag ahead of time? So that he could be well prepared, sort of, when he was arrested.

YI: I was not surprised.

TY: So you were prepared with his bag.

YI: The FBI pulled out the photo albums, books and the like upstairs and inspected them. One of them had a photo of Kyoto taken when he was at college.

TY: At Ryukoku College?

YI: I don't know why but they took only that photo.

TY: FBI? What kind of photo was it?

YI: I don't know why, but they didn't take any photos of students or teachers, but there was one photo of Kyoto city. They took only that one.

TY: Did they take that one? Just a photo of the city?

YI: In those days the Issei were afraid and burned all the photos of the famous military personnel. We didn't have any such photos in the first place and so we had nothing to burn.

TY: I heard those stories, that they burned photos and documents.

YI: Anything with a Japanese flag on it. It made them look like "Japanophiles."

TY: I hear there were people who burned their books and other possessions.

YI: Uh-huh. They were afraid and burned books.

TY: Was that because they were told by others to burn, or...

YI: Yes. Yes. It was all for nothing. Looking back.

TY: I understand some people burned very valuable family documents.

YI: Huh?

TY: Some people burned historical documents of their families.

YI: That's right.

TY: I heard that they regret burning them and wished they had those very valuable documents now.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.