Densho Digital Archive - Mitsuye May Yamada - Joe Yasutake - Tosh Yasutake Interview (denshovh-ymitsuye

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AI: Well, then also in the news of early 1942, I think in February is when, down in southern California, the first Japanese American community was -- the fishing community in San Pedro --

MY: Terminal Island?

AI: -- the Terminal Island people, they were removed. And so you may have heard something about that in the news, but then of course up here, the big news was in March, when Bainbridge Island people were removed. What do you recall of that time, if anything? Of hearing about them or seeing the newspapers.

MY: I don't remember that. I read rather extensively of that Bainbridge Island period because I had some friends, later on, who were involved in that. But I remember thinking, because Bainbridge Island, we used to go, was that, they had summer house in Bainbridge Island?

TY: Bainbridge Island?

MY: Where was that? Crystal Lake? Crystal --

TY: Oh, you mean that summer resort?

MY: Yeah.

TY: Who was it that had that?

MY: We used to go... Fuji something. Dad had some kind of stock in that store or whatever that closed up.

TY: Furuya.

MY: Furuya, okay.

TY: Yeah, Furuya company.

MY: So we spent summers there, in that house. Where was that? In Bainbridge? Was that at Bainbridge Island?

TY: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think it was Bainbridge Island.

MY: Yeah, I think it was Bainbridge Island because I remember then hearing about this. And then I, I kind of, my mind went back to those summers we used to spend at Bainbridge Island. And --

TY: Yeah, the Furuya company had a summer resort on Bainbridge Island. So every summer we were invited there, some period of time, and we spent some time there, right?

MY: Yeah, yeah.

TY: And Dad used to, used to work for the company before he started working for the immigration office. And he had some close tie with the Furuya company. I don't know what, to what extent.

MY: Did he own some stock, or --

TY: So we did go to some resort, maybe week or two, two weeks every year. Spent some time there, but --

MY: So I, so I remember later, in retrospect, looking back and thinking, but I don't remember the moment of hearing about the people on Bainbridge Island being removed. We didn't know anybody -- we didn't have any family friends --

TY: No, no we didn't.

MY: -- who lived on that Island who were --

TY: But it made conscious of the fact that our evacuation was imminent. Just when it was, we didn't, of course we had no idea, but I figured, well, our time will come sometime soon.

MY: Yeah, I think that we were kind of aware that it was beginning. It was starting and that there were --

TY: Yeah. That was the beginning, so, in this area.

MY: -- some people who were being removed and that our turn will come next. But I don't remember specifically about Bainbridge Island, because I --