<Begin Segment 21>

AI: Well, then it was in the spring of 1942 that government decided to move all people of Japanese ancestry off the West Coast. When you first heard that started happening, what went through your mind? Because you were in California --

GY: Yes, uh-huh.

AI: There was, there were some Japanese on Terminal Island, some fishermen, who were moved off early. But then in February and then in March, up near Seattle, the Bainbridge Islanders were moved off.

GY: Oh, yes, yeah. Uh-huh, yes.

AI: And then, but then eventually, people in California were being moved. What was your reaction when you found out about this?

GY: Well, I didn't think about civil rights or due process, as we hear all the time now, still wasn't -- again, we had that mindset, the Japanese community: we're a group, kind of thing. And we were not part of the mainstream. So I felt -- if I were maybe outside, living with hakujin friends, whatever, and they don't want to, and felt a part of them. They may have felt very much depressed, angry, upset, being treated, and like my -- but here we had this communal sense that made us a group, and so it was a little bit easier to take because under the barrage of propaganda, man, we're a group, too. That really put us together here. And said, "You guys have to go." And said, "Well, I guess we have to because they don't want us here anyway." And when you get, when you share stories about this group of people, this group, they say, "Well, we're next now." In those days, of course, there was no such thing as the, the Civil Rights Movement came much later, and so we didn't -- there were no parades, marches, no cards holding up, "We won't go," kind of thing.

AI: Did you hear of anyone who was refusing to go or --

GY: No, except there were stories about others. There were some others who did refuse to go, and they were somehow -- but at that time, no. No, no. So the parts of Los Angeles, since we had such a large population of Japanese Americans that they went to the assembly center, which was the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, California. So they went there, and that was before our section of the city was evacuated. So I would visit them. There would be a gate. And I would re -- exchange letters and say, I'm going to be there visiting hours on a certain date, and they would come and meet me, and we talked, and sort of joked, hey, you guys are back in camp, huh -- or back in camp -- or not back in camp, but you're behind barbs -- I don't know. We were so joking about it that, you poor suckers. We're out here, free. But again, we didn't feel sorry for ourselves. We just accepted the whole status quo, the movement, so forth.

AI: But when you saw your friends at Santa Anita, that may be the first time you can recall seeing them, and they're behind those wires, what, what did you think? What went through your mind?

GY: I don't remember, but I was upset because where they're -- I meet them, friends, say, hey, how you doin', man, in camp and that kind of thing. And I'd say, God, I sure feel sorry for you because I'm gonna be there, too. And I was just wondering how soon I'll be here or where. And I wasn't angry, I don't think. I really accepted the whole thing. I said, well, it's something we have to do. That was my reaction because all my friends were doing the same kind of thing. And what alternatives were there? One alternative was to move to the inland cities or states -- get out of the state, away from the West Coast, but that was not a possibility, not an option on the part of my family. No friends, no farm. And the great majority of people were going to camp, too. Majority was going. I don't recall what I felt down here. Just too naive, too young. If I had a family -- if I had a wife and maybe an infant or two, I would be very much upset because of responsibility, uncertain future. But I was a little bit too young and just too naive to be concerned, yeah.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.