<Begin Segment 8>

[Translated from Japanese]

KS: Okay, jumping ahead a little to 1941, do you remember where you were when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

TT: We had opened a cafe on fifth street. And in the beginning, there were very few customers. Gradually it got better to the point where the owner who sold us the store would ask, "How did you guys improve your business so much?" because so many more customers were coming in. Just when we were enjoying our business success, the war began.

KS: And when you heard about Pearl Harbor --

TT: Uh-huh.

KS: -- how did you feel?

TT: The cafe was closed immediately on that day. We couldn't do business anymore.

KS: And your husband, Mr. Sakita, how did he feel... about Pearl Harbor?

TT: Well, it was like, we had just started our business and it was doing well, and so it was quite shocking.

AI: Had either of them had any --

TT: No one would buy our store. And once the war started, and we closed the store, we couldn't sell any of the things inside. Nobody would buy.

KS: What happened to the cafe after that?

TT: We just closed it. Even though we had a lease, no one would buy it. It was just going to be abandoned anyway, right? That's why no one wanted to buy it.

AI: [To Ken] Before Pearl Harbor, did either of them have any idea there might be a war between the countries?

KS: [To Tomiye] Before Pearl Harbor, did you ever think there would be a war between Japan and America?

TT: I didn't think so. I didn't think such a thing could happen.

KS: So, when you heard about Pearl Harbor, were you very surprised?

TT: That's why I was so surprised. I thought, "What shall we do?"

KS: What else do you remember about that time, when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

TT: I was not in a mental state to think about anything. I was just in total shock. I just didn't know what to do.

KS: And then, when did you hear about being taken away to the internment camps?

TT: We were all in the same boat. It wasn't just us, so what could we do? It was all Japanese.

KS: When did you hear that you would be taken away to these camps?

TT: Hmm, well, no matter what I thought -- well, I can't remember, but I just didn't know what to do. If the government tells us to do so, you just have to go along with it. If you resisted, you had nowhere else to go.

KS: But, weren't there also many people who were resisting?

TT: Who would want to go? But you just had to go.

KS: So what happened to your house or to your belongings?

TT: You couldn't bring that many things with you. Just a futon and some change of clothes only.

KS: And what happened to the rest of your belongings?

TT: I wonder what happened. Well, some friends, some of my relatives had already gone to this Sacramento bridge. There is this bridge, a bridge that crosses a river between the countryside and the town. They said the bridge would be closed soon. But that was just a rumor. Even though they knew it could not be true, if you heard the rumor, you might believe it. Anyone would. And so by then, my cousins had already left for town. Only my husband said "No, that's not true." We needed to take our futon, so we packed and brought them with us later.

KS: And what happened to your home?

TT: Well, even if you call it a home, it was just a rental. They wouldn't sell us houses back then. It was just a rental house.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.