<Begin Segment 9>

REM: You were -- let's go ahead then to February 19, 1942. How did you learn of the executive order that would intern Japanese Americans?

RTM: Well, I think it was through the, through the JACL chapter that disseminated information about evacuation and so on. And so some of the leaders at that time in our chapter were the ones that were help setting up registration and these kind of things. And so that's how we learned about that.

REM: Did your father go to do the registering, or did your sister or somebody in the family? How did that work?

RTM: Well, I think, because I was the eldest son in the family that that chore kind of fell on me automatically. And so I'm only eighteen years old at the time. And so eighteen-year-old grows up pretty fast under those kind of circumstances.

REM: Yeah.

RTM: So being the dutiful eldest son in the family, I took the responsibility of doing that. And went to the registration, and preparing for evacuation and so on.

REM: Where did you have to go?

RTM: Well...

REM: Where did --

RTM: ...I'm not too sure where it was done. Probably at the old Japanese school, if I recall.

REM: They just asked you who were members of the family and gave you a number? Was that the process or was there more -- wait, let's go back. Let's talk about your land because that becomes a central issue in, at the, between February 19th and the actual internment. How did your father get the land? Was he leasing it, own, did he own it? We really need to know the land question here because it becomes, I think, central in the internment. When your dad and you went there in 1937, what was the arrangement concerning the greenhouse land?

RTM: Well, as you recall, there was a, the alien land law was in effect at that time. So in order for any Nis-,Issei or, to purchase land, had to be done through someone, probably a Nisei of legal age. And so, at that time we were, in order for us to purchase that property, we had Bruce Nakanishi as our intermediary. So that's how we were purchasing the property at the time was through Bruce.

REM: He was of age?

RTM: Yes, uh-huh.

REM: And so you were buying the land? You weren't leasing it.

RTM: No. We were purchasing it.

REM: Okay. So you're going before the registration board to be interned. How was the question of your land resolved?

RTM: Well, I don't recall what questions were on a form that were, we were filling out at that time, but we were able to maintain ownership to the land by having another third party look after the property while we were, during evacuation. So we had a, able to acquire a person that would do that for us. And so we turned everything over to him as far as the operation of the business was concerned, and we left all the materials there, the trucks, the tools, and so on, for him to use to operate the business. Well, as the war increased, it became imminent that he would either have to go into some other kind of work, defense work, or be drafted into the service. And so we lost our contact there. And by that time, we were in Minidoka, I think. And so it was decided that maybe the best thing for us to do was to dispose of the property because not knowing whether we'd be able to come back to it after the war. Anyway, through the WRA we were (able to dispose) of the property. And they were able to find a purchaser for that piece of ground.

REM: By this time did you have a love of the land? Did you hate to see --

RTM: Well, that was our home, naturally, and so we must have had some kind of an inner feeling...

REM: Attachment.

RTM: ...attachment to it. Yes, uh-huh. But like I said, I was only eighteen years old. So I mean, eighteen-year-old doesn't have that much of a fixed desire or, so to speak, I would think.

REM: How about your father and mother? The sale of the land, how did that affect them?

RTM: Well, I mean, there isn't very much you can do about it from camp. So I mean, you kind of roll with the punches and do whatever's necessary. So I'm not too sure what their true feelings were at that time.

REM: They accept it.

RTM: Yeah, it's the accepted thing.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.