Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Tom Akashi Interview
Narrator: Tom Akashi
Interviewers: Tom Ikeda (primary); Chizu Omori (secondary)
Location: Klamath Falls, Oregon
Date: July 3, 2004
Densho ID: denshovh-atom-01-0015

<Begin Segment 15>

TI: Okay, so we just ended up where you were dropped off at the bus.

TA: Yeah.

TI: At that point, did you know where you were gonna go?

TA: Oh, yeah. We knew we were going to Topaz. It said so in --

TI: Topaz or Tanforan?

TA: Oh, no, I'm sorry. Tanforan.

TI: Tanforan.

TA: We knew we were going to Tanforan. Tanforan, just across the bay.

TI: Okay. So you knew it as the racetrack? You just knew...

TA: Oh, yeah. We knew it was just a racetrack, we knew it was there. So it was nothing new, it was just, we're gonna just cross the bay. And, and so we were aware of that, yeah.

TI: So what were your first impressions of Tanforan when you, when you got there?

TA: Well, before I go to that --

TI: Sure.

TA: You know what happened when we got to Hayward? What happened that impressed me the most were these Christians, and they had this table and they had refreshments and donuts and pastries and Coke -- I mean, not... coffee and milk and whatnot, and they, they set it all up for us to have. And I, I was impressed with that. All of this hostility in Mount Eden, and then yet, here, we're ready to go, and these Christians are there coming and talking to us and telling us, "Please, help yourself." I thought that was impressive.

TI: Do you know, was it because they knew the Japanese in, it's Hayward, you said? Hayward?

TA: Hayward, yeah.

TI: Or it was just their Christian belief that they, they decided to do this?

TA: I think it was, well, they knew the Japanese, yes, and then, of course, their Christian belief. And my father, you know, really was impressed, being a Christian, he was thanking them. Well, he was not that, not that jovial, but whenever they came, I mean, he would talk to 'em and says, "Thank you." And we brought him coffee and brought that in. And he was pretty appreciative of that.

TI: So what was your, the mood of your, your father during this period?

TA: Moody. Moody, sad. He just, I think he just couldn't understand it, that, why it was happening. I mean, because he -- this is in retrospect, I think, because he talked to the FBI, told 'em what he was going to do, and he helped the community and yet, he's being evacuated. Solemn, he wasn't jovial like he normally was. Didn't talk much. Yeah, so we saw the change of attitude on his part. And going back to your question, what my first impression of Tan-, Tanforan was, a lot of Japanese all centered in one place. The, the guards, the soldiers, and, of course, we had soldiers on the bus and soldiers there. Then you look up and you, you see this barbed wire fence and, and you get the feeling of being a prison-like. I mean, not being a prisoner before, but then being kind of incarcerated in one bunch where there's nothing but Japanese. That's my first impression.

Of course, I studied the Constitution and the history, and Bill of Rights in school, and so I says, "Gee, where's my rights? What's happening to me?" As young as I was, I was impressed that all of this was wrong. I couldn't understand why, why we had to go. And the Germans, they didn't have to go. My father was saying, "Jeez, the Germans didn't have to go. The Italians didn't have to go." But we were going. And so that's the kind of mood I was in. And, of course, we were busy moving things around, getting set in the barracks, filling our mattress full of straw, and things like that. So the initial first two days is, was just busy getting ourselves set up. Later on, you start thinking about it more and more, as, as you get the feeling that, hey, you go to the mess hall to eat. You can't go outside. Of course, at that time, there were visitors coming and things like that. But the fact that you couldn't go outside anymore. This is it. So... and then later on I, I would go up in the grandstand, look around. Because you could see the, the city or see the airport. Way out in the distance, you'd know that there's Mount Eden out there, and you start thinking, "Jeez, sure like to go back." Because those were good times.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.