<Begin Segment 62>

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, did you ever worry about the relatives living in Japan?

MK: [Jpn.] Relatives in Japan?

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] We didn't have any relatives left.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] How about your husband...

MK: [Jpn.] They were dead and my husband's relatives were out of contact.

TY: [Jpn.] Is that right?

MK: [Jpn.] I don't know if they were living at the same address or not. My husband didn't say anything. To tell you the truth, we were planning to return to Fukushima a little while after the end of the war. We wanted to visit and take a look the next year since we had never returned there. But he died the very next year.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Uh-huh. He couldn't do that.

TY: [Jpn.] So he died without ever returning.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. 1960.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] That time. It was the third of June, 1960.

TY: [Jpn.] I see. By the way, how about Hideo? He must have worried because all of his classmates were in Japan.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, he worried, but Japan suffered very much.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] I bet they couldn't worry about others. Because the U.S. bombed. Because of that, everywhere was a mess.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] Yeah. So nobody had time or energy to worry about others. I don't know, really, but that's my guess. Everybody was so desperate.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Japanese people. Uh-huh. Also, there was a food shortage.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] So the city people took nice clothes to the countryside and exchanged them for food. Didn't you hear those stories?

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] You must have heard. Expensive goods. Potatoes and other foods were not available in cities. So they took them to the farmers. I heard that about the farmers. Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Then because you answered "yes-yes," you had no intention to return to Japan, didn't you? You might plan to visit for fun, but returning to Japan...

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. We had no intention from the beginning.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh.

TY: [Jpn.] Among the first generation, some wanted to return to Japan by any means...

MK: [Jpn.] Those were...

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] ...people who had siblings or whose parents were still alive. They had some means to live in Japan. Some didn't have that. After returning, some people realized they were not welcome by their Japanese relatives.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] If you returned without money. It would be different if you returned with a lot of money.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] But what would you do if you had only a small amount of money which would run out quickly?

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Jpn.] If you haven't seen each other for a long time, your relatives will be the same as strangers. So you cannot just go back to Japan without a good plan.

TY: [Jpn.] Yes.

MK: [Jpn.] See? Yeah. Of course if you are single, you might be able to survive. If you can find a job there. But if not, if you have a family, it is impossible.

TY: [Jpn.] Yeah.

MK: [Eng.] Uh-huh. Yeah.

TY: [Jpn.] By the way, after living at Tule Lake for one year and three months, you moved to Heart Mountain in October of 1943.

MK: [Jpn.] Yes, we did.

TY: [Jpn.] Did you request to go there, or...

MK: [Jpn.] No. No. They sent us over there.

TY: [Jpn.] I see.

MK: [Jpn.] Without any advance notice, we were told to go to Heart Mountain. We were totally surprised.

<End Segment 62> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.