<Begin Segment 22>

AI: Well, I wanted to ask about that period, that spring of '42. You mentioned that some of the other Japanese leaders had been taken, such as the language school teachers.

MK: Uh-huh.

AI: So, did you continue going to Japanese language school?

MK: No, that was definitely stopped as soon as the Pearl Harbor was mentioned, you know, struck, yeah.

AI: Well, what about some of the other changes in that period?

MK: I believe we did try to finish, until the day of evac-, or the week before the evacuation, we did attend the junior high school, because I did remember the time when a classmate came up and showed me that other picture of my father on the front page.

AI: Do you remember, before having to leave Seattle, did you... I heard a lot of other families burned or got rid of a lot of Japanese things. You talked about the ledger already, that your mother had burned.

MK: Uh-huh, uh-huh.

AI: But were there other things that you got rid of or burned up?

MK: No, I don't remember any other things, but I know where I live now, or close to Florin town, there were homes that were burned and people burning pictures of the tennoheika or other items that they... military, like kendo or judo, any martial arts material, they burned.

AI: But in your home, you don't really recall doing too much of that.

MK: No, I don't remember my mother destroying anything, other than the ledger. That was only in the protection of the Nikkei men who had donated to the Okayama Kenjinkai.

AI: Right. Well, now we're talking about, yesterday, we were talking about getting ready to leave Seattle, and that you were gathering at a place, at a location where you then got on the bus and were taken away. Do you remember anything about knowing where you were going?

MK: No, absolutely not.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2003 Densho. All Rights Reserved.