<Begin Segment 44>

TY: [Jpn.] Well, did your children experience any meanness at school after the war started?

MK: [Jpn.] Well, let me see. They were called "Jap." Yeah. Of course everybody hated them. That's natural.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

[Interruption]

MK: [Jpn.] Therefore it was only natural that we were put into camps.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Into camps. Yeah. The Americans were afraid of the Japanese after such an incident.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] See? They were afraid of the Japanese. So the FBI took all the top Japanese people who were members of the Japanese American Association or any other organizations. They were taken to a special place. All of them.

TY: [Jpn.] Sunnydale was far away from the places of such stories. So...

MK: [Jpn.] That's right. They were afraid that we might do something.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Then the war started. So the FBI came. FBI investigated every Japanese house from the basement up to the second floor. That, FBI did.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] They investigated everywhere.

TY: [Jpn.] Your house, too?

MK: [Jpn.] Oh, everywhere, they investigated each and every Japanese house.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then, many first generation Japanese were taken away. They were arrested.

MK: [Jpn.] Those people were...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] ...not here any more.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] How did you hear such a story in Sunnydale?

MK: [Jpn.] No, we didn't know at all.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you hear that later?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. I heard it later. Till then, we couldn't correspond at all.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. In that case, when the FBI actually came to your house...

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] Haven't you heard of it before from someone else?

MK: [Jpn.] No, no, no, nothing.

TY: [Jpn.] Did they take anything with them?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah, a pistol. Maybe a Japanese sword, I don't know. They took anything they considered dangerous. During the investigation.

TY: [Jpn.] Oh, did you have those kinds of things?

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. If you had any of those, they would remove them.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Anything else?

<End Segment 44> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.