<Begin Segment 45>

AI: So you were, most of the time that you were held there in the house, you weren't saying anything.

MY: No.

AI: You were sitting there silently --

MY: Well, I mean, you were dying to talk to each other, see, you know, what's going on. And I remember looking at Tosh, and -- but every time we talked to each other, said something, they said, "Don't..." And they, they were, they didn't know what they were doing, either. I think they, they looked kind of scared, too. And Mom --

TY: Uncertain. I could tell --

MY: Yeah. They had no clue. They had no precedent for this kind of thing. And Jeni interviewed Grandma, right? And that tape when Mom was talking -- Grandma was talking, she said that one of the FBI agents kept telling her, "I am sorry, I am sorry, but this is my job." And I don't remember hearing that but I can --

TY: I don't remember that, either.

MY: No, but I was kind of, when I heard Grandma saying, she was talking to my daughter, her granddaughter, and she said, "Yeah, one of the FBIs kept apologizing, 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but this is my job.'" Gee I thought, found it kind of interesting.

AI: And while you were there, was there another, a family friend or someone else also there?

MY: Yeah, a man, I think Mr. --

TY: Yamasaki.

MY: Yamasaki-san?

TY: Yeah.

MY: Mr. Yamasaki just happened to drop by to discuss this with Dad.

TY: No, I, he heard about -- yeah, he heard about Pearl Harbor and he was very anxious about it.

MY: And he thought that my dad would --

TY: Thought maybe Dad would, might have some answer, what to do. And so he was very concerned, so he came over to ask Dad.

MY: Then the FBI told him to sit down.

TY: And of course, of course --

MY: I don't know what happened to him after that.

JY: After the FBI was there?

MY: Yeah, he was there, so they told him to come in --

TY: Yeah, so they came in the door, they said, they said, "What are you doing here?" He said, "I'm here to see Mr. Yasutake."

MY: They told --

TY: And then, of course, he's not there so they told him to sit down. And he couldn't leave, they wouldn't let him leave.

MY: Yeah, he was going to turn around and leave.

TY: Yeah. They said, "No, you sit down over here."

MY: "No, don't go..."

TY: So he said down, made him sit down with us on the couch.

MY: Yeah. But I don't know what happened. I guess he must, they must have gone home.

TY: Oh, he must have gone home. Yeah, I can't remember what happened to him afterwards, but after they --

MY: And then Mom, Mom said that during that whole, the telephone kept ringing, because all the people whose fathers were arrested would call my mom, to call my Dad to tell, ask what they should do, or ask him what's going on. And my mother was telling Jeni that, "I said, well, I don't know what to do either, because my husband is gone." And then she said she was talking on the phone and the FBI kept saying, "Don't talk in Japanese, talk in English."

AI: What was your feeling at this time? Had you received any explanation from the FBI? Or did they tell you they were going to arrest your father?

MY: I know, they didn't. They didn't, they didn't tell us that this was going to happen.

TY: They just asked where Dad was, and --

MY: They said, "Where is your father?" And so they, so we knew that they were going to -- I mean, I had no idea. I had no idea that he was going to get arrested. But I thought maybe they were going to question him, or whatever. And then when you went to get the car, and get a sense that he wasn't coming home. He wasn't coming home, right? Did you get that sense, or did you remember what you were thinking? Why you were picking up the car?

TY: Pardon?

MY: Do you remember why you were picking up -- while you were picking up the car, you certainly must have realized that Dad wasn't coming home.

TY: Dad wasn't coming, back, yeah. Well, at that time, we didn't know where they took him. It took us a day or two before --

MY: Yeah. Mr. Bonham called us.

TY: Was it Mr. Bonham who called us? Somebody, I don't recall, called us saying they --

MY: See, my father's boss -- they took my father to the detention center, at the FBI -- at the immigration building, where my father's office was. So it was either in the same building upstairs --

TY: Well, ironically, he was, his detention --

JY: I heard it was right above his office. I don't know where I heard that, but --

TY: Yeah. Right directly above his, where his office used to be. Where they --

MY: Was, there was a VIP detention room, or something. It was a place where --

TY: And I don't remember going to see him.

MY: I do, I do.

TY: I don't remember going to see him. You remember, Joe?

JY: I don't, I don't remember. I kind of have a glimpse of it, but I don't know if it's because I've been told that, or whether I actually saw it.

TY: Yeah, it's kind of a gray area to me, too. I really don't know whether -- she remembers going there with Mother, but I just don't -- I have a feeling I didn't go.

MY: I remember... yeah. I remember going there with Mother, and I don't remember if there was anybody else besides she and I.

TY: Yeah. I just don't remember going with you.

MY: Isn't that odd?

<End Segment 45> - Copyright © 2002 Densho. All Rights Reserved.