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AI: It's July 13, 2001. We're continuing our interview with Bill Hosokawa. And as we left our -- off before the break, you had just returned from Shanghai to the United States in 1941, late October. Now, while you were gone your son, Michael was born.

BH: Yes.

AI: And you returned and reunited with your family. Can you tell me just what -- a little of your personal reaction, coming back, reuniting with your wife and meeting your son for the first time.

BH: [Laughs] Gosh. I really don't know how to -- what to say. But it was quite a moving experience. My son was thirteen months old before I first -- before I ever saw him. And it took a bit of getting used to. I'd never been around babies before. And to think that he was mine and that he had grown up into a toddler well before I ever saw him was quite a moving experience.

AI: And so the three of you were then living in Seattle?

BH: Yes. We were staying with my, my parents. I didn't have a job, and I didn't know where to start looking for a job. And meanwhile, the U.S.-Japan relations were getting worse and worse. I went out to the university and spoke to some of the students there about journalism in the Far East. And my professors were very anxious to help me find a place. And they made suggestions like, "Why don't you apply at the Associated Press?" Or, "How about writing to the State Department to see if they would have a position for somebody who's cognizant of the situation in the Far East?" This was at the end of October and five weeks later, here came the war.

Now, I had been ill on the ship coming back. I'd picked up yellow jaundice or something, and I was not in good shape. And so I had a lot of resting up to do, too.

AI: I also wanted to ask what your -- coming from Asia and then being back in the United States after this several years' absence...

BH: Yes.

AI: ...what struck you most about the climate that you found back in the United States? I would say political or social climate.

BH: Yeah. Well, I went back to Seattle, and after a year, and a little over a year in Shanghai and a year and a half in Singapore, these were metropolises, and here was this dinky little town of Seattle. A lot of friends, but I really wasn't part of Seattle. Never had a chance to get back into Seattle before the war came. And it struck me that the city was quite countrified, after being out in the areas where there are millions of people and tremendous political and social forces were being felt. And here was Seattle, a very placid place, very much like it was when I left.

AI: And what would you say about the general awareness in Seattle then in fall of 1941? You -- general awareness of the world situation. You said that in leaving Shanghai, you were very sure that war between Japan and the U.S. was inevitable, and at that time, you were also, as a journalist, very aware of what was happening in Europe. When you got back to Seattle, what seemed to be the general awareness level of the world situation?

BH: I think there was only a vague awareness of the pressures that were building up in the Far East. And the average person on the street, I would say, could be described as fat, dumb, and happy. They really didn't understand what was going on in the Far East. And that would be one reason why there was -- it was such a shock when war did come.

AI: I see. So even though at the time there were headlines about diplomatic relations being very off and on between Japan and the U.S. and some difficulty between Japanese diplomats and the U.S. and Washington, D.C., those headlines did appear in the newspaper of the times, but the general reader or average citizen might not be that aware of what it meant.

BH: Yes. There, of course there was coverage of Ambassador Kurusu and Ambassador Nomura going to see Cordell Hull and coming out looking very somber. But there was no television in those days, and we got the news second-hand through the radio, or the newspapers, or there were newsreels in the theaters. But I don't think the American people were anywhere aware of the seriousness of the situation.

AI: Now, in contrast, what would you say was the awareness of the situation in Europe? Was there some fear that Hitler and Nazi Germany would take over all of Europe?

BH: Oh, yes. There was a very great fear that the German Army, having taken over all of Europe, was about to invade Great Britain. And that fear had led to Roosevelt's lend lease program. We "loaned" quotes, the British fifty old destroyers. We were sending a lot of food and munitions and stuff over there. But the fear of the war spreading was in Europe. In Asia, Japan was running wild on the mainland and moving southward toward Indochina and the Dutch, Dutch Indies, but we had little, very little at stake there. And we were also insulated by 5,000 miles of ocean.

AI: I'm wondering if, if there seemed to be much concern -- again, talking about, say, an average person on the street in Seattle, about the Axis, the Japanese and the Germans together, perhaps conquering and ruling the majority of the world at some point. Was, was that an idea that was --

BH: Well, yeah. The Axis Pact, tying in Germany and Italy and Japan, was viewed, I think, it -- with some concern. But again, Japan was an Asian power. There were 5,000 miles of ocean insulating us. And we felt sympathy for the Chinese, but the great concern was with Europe.

AI: I see. Well, thank you. That helps in illustrating a bit of the climate of the times and what was uppermost in people's mind regarding war.

BH: Yes, there was a good deal of resentment about the Japanese picking on the Chinese. And there were demonstrations against shipments of scrap iron from West Coast ports to, to Japan, and there were efforts to boycott Japanese products. But the imminence, the fear, and the great concern was with Europe.

AI: I see.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2001 Densho. All Rights Reserved.