<Begin Segment 2>

AI: Let me back up a little bit...

BN: Yeah.

AI: ...and ask you, what did happen on the day Pearl Harbor was bombed? Do you recall what you were doing that day and how you heard about it?

BN: Yes. My ranch was right beside the Compton Boulevard, and it ran a long strip to the, from Prairie Avenue to, almost to the channel. And I was weeding the ditch right beside the flume that ran on the Compton Boulevard.

AI: And for people who don't know, what is a flume?

BN: Oh, flume is the, it's made out of wood, and then it's a box-like thing, and then get, we pass the water through there for irrigation. And the water drips so naturally there's a weed underneath, so I was cleaning the weed. And then all the car passes slowly, and then just staring at me. And I didn't realize anything at all. "Gee, what are they looking for, staring at me for?" It didn't dawn on me. At a evening hour, I turned my old radio on and found out that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. And at that time, it just dawned me, says, "Oh, no wonder they were looking at me."

AI: What was your reaction when you heard that news?

BN: I thought, "Oh-oh, something drastic happened." Before that time, the negotiation between Japan and America were being really, done at -- many higher-up officials were in Washington discussing about the thing. That, really, I didn't know really what it was about. But anyway, it was sort of either war or peace, yeah, in that line. So really, I didn't expect them to, you know, bomb Pearl Harbor at all 'cause I, U.S. is a large country. Well really, I didn't know how they would react, but the way they bombed the Pearl Harbor, that really startled me the power of Japan at that time. I didn't think they had that much of a power, coming across the Pacific and bombing Pearl Harbor, but they did so. And then...

AI: What kind of reaction did you get, then?

BN: Well, I really didn't... think much about it. I, it really, it just startled me only at that time. See, because this, Japan daily news, this Kashumainichi, they call in Japanese. Mr. Fujii, Sei Fujii, he just kept on saying that Japan and America will never fight. And if they do, they will both lose out. So I believed in him. I really didn't think they would fight, have a war. But when I heard about this Pearl Harbor, I was startled over their, the power of Japanese navy at that time.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.