<Begin Segment 24>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: By the way, when it became possible to return to Japan, I understand that some wished to return.

YI: Yes. We first signed the paper. But only Etsuko would not sign. She didn't want to return. Meantime, as I told you before, the office...

TY: Why did you want to return?

YI: If we stayed, we weren't sure whether we could return to our temple or not. Then my husband's mother died. He must have felt homesick when his mother died. He wanted to return once.

TY: So Satoru and the others all agreed except for Etsuko...

YI: So we returned to Japan once.

TY: Yes.

YI: Oh, no. We didn't return at that time.

TY: You did in 1934.

YI: We returned from Fresno. His mother died at that time.

TY: In Crystal City you decided to return...

YI: We made that decision once.

TY: This is the paper your family signed.

YI: That's right. We signed it.

TY: This is the application to return to Japan. The youngest two children didn't sign, but Akira and the older children signed it. Do you remember this?

YI: Akira signed here, didn't he?

TY: Yes.

YI: I don't think Etsuko signed.

TY: Etsuko signed it, too.

YI: Did she sign after all?

TY: Yes, she did. But in the end, your application...

YI: So she did. When your siblings and parents were returning, you couldn't stay by yourself... she must have signed because she was a minor. But I am glad we cancelled.

TY: If your family had returned to Japan, you would have suffered greatly.

YI: If we had returned, we would have been in trouble.

TY: But by that time many families already returned, didn't they?

YI: We returned once and then came to Seattle.

TY: Yes. By the way, when you heard that Japan was in trouble, many Japanese Americans and Japanese people had already returned to Japan, hadn't they?

YI: That's right. Since we heard that rumor, many returned. They wanted to return at all costs. A ship came. A ship to take us home. They told us when a ship would come. Many people from Peru returned.

TY: For Peruvians, the choice was to return to either Peru or Japan. They could not stay in the U.S.

YI: Some of them remained. The Japanese Peruvians who stayed were sent back to Peru by the American government.

TY: After the war?

YI: They sent them back. Some of them remained in the U.S. with the help of friends. There is Mr. Kawabe in Seattle. A businessman. An important man. You know about Kawabe House, don't you? He is the one who paid for its foundation. He was a smart businessman. He gave jobs to some of those people. He ran a store.

TY: When you were in Minidoka, were there people who wanted to return to Japan?

YI: Who wanted to return to Japan?

TY: Also in Minidoka?

YI: Let me see. I don't think many people returned from there. There was no ship.

TY: Then it was only after you arrived at Crystal City and those things started to happen...

YI: Uh-huh.

TY: Then, if you were to return to Japan, where were you planning to go?

YI: If we were to return to Japan, we planned to visit first my husband's home in Nagano Prefecture. Then he would look for a job or something to do.

TY: But then you heard a rumor...

YI: I am very glad that we cancelled the plan. If we had returned, we would have been in a big trouble. We would have been a big burden on our families and friends.

TY: So what kind of things did you hear? Probably you heard that there was a great food shortage (in Japan).

YI: Yes. Most people didn't know, but top people in the office knew that Japan had lost the war and didn't have enough food to feed people. So people in the office told us that we had better not return.

TY: Are those people in the office Japanese or Japanese Americans? Or Americans?

YI: I'm not sure, but probably Caucasians. They must have told some of the key Japanese people.

TY: So the story spread throughout the entire community.

YI: There was a head person in the camp.

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.