<Begin Segment 38>

TI: So where, where we are right now is, we're in 1945, so around June, the, the organizations have all, sort of, pretty much ended. The administration sort of did the divide-and-conquer, your father was sent away, and your family has sort of, sort of gotten closer going through this...

TA: More family unity.

TI: ...more family unit. August 1945, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which essentially ended the war with Japan. But what was your reaction when you heard about the bombing, or the, the atomic bomb on Hiroshima?

TA: Concern. The reason for it is that my mother's family came from Hiroshima. And like anything else, she says, "Well, if I have relatives in Hiroshima, they must be dead." That was my first reaction. I said, "Oh, my God, what, what did they do?"

TI: Because also, you were thinking now you're going to back to Japan, too.

TA: And going back to Japan, too.

TI: And the family might be... because in just, in a couple months, you're starting to get ready to go to Japan, in about November, and wanted to find out what it was just like, just waiting and getting ready? Your dad, your father's still separated.

TA: Separated, we were, we were really, really getting worried. And my mother's resolution to go to Japan started to waver. In fact, my uncle came, Uncle Frank came from Cressey, because they were, they relocated by now, because, and he came, paid us a visit, and urged us to stay. He says, "If your dad want to go, let him go." But he says, and he hear, well, I have an uncle that came back from Japan, and told about this condition in Japan, so this, this is a firsthand knowledge of what was in Japan. He says, "It's terrible. People are starving, and housing, everything is desperate there." So she, he encouraged my mother, says, "No." But then she stood fast and says, "Look, we're on the stop, stop-list, we can't leave anyhow, and besides, we're determined to go to Japan," with my father. And he says, "Well, how do you know he's going back?" Said, "We don't know, but we have indications that he'll be." And that's when we were really concerned, and my mother, we told my mother, "Why don't you write one of those secret letters that you always did?" And she -- I give her credit, and my father credit, too, because I don't know why they anticipated this, but they says, "These are the things that we're gonna do. Your name, it could be spelled 'Sanae,' or S-A-N-A-E, or S-A-N-Y-E. Or Paul, or," you know, he says, "If you use this word like Kiyoshi, Vivian. And if you use this it means, 'yes,' if this, it means 'no.' And if this is what you... they felt that if it was ever intercepted, it would be innocuous, it wouldn't mean a thing.

TI: So what they had arranged for was --

TA: They've arranged.

TI: -- essentially a code between the two of them.

TA: The code between the two of them.

TI: To help them communicate back and forth --

TA: Communicate back and forth.

TI: -- past the censors that...

TA: Yes. That, because we know what, everybody knew what we had said, my God, I mean, all around -- whatever, whenever we got something, it was full of holes. It didn't say nothing. You know, "I am, I'm well. How is everybody?" And that's it, about it. And so she really, she taught, my father taught her to write it in, with lemon, and with a chopstick -- with a toothpick, and there on paper, and she wrote this and said that, "Where, where are you? We're waiting to find out what, where you're gonna, what are you gonna do? Where are you?"

TI: 'Cause she wanted to find out whether or not he was going to be on the same ship going back to Japan?

TA: True, yeah. And wanted to know what was happening. And what happened is that at that time, by then -- I'm reviewing -- he's already in Terminal Island. What happened is that my father's brother, Tokutaro, left Terminal Island. And my cousin, David Akashi, who was the brother of Tokutaro, moved to, back to Los Angeles. And we heard through Uncle Frank that he moved, and I, for some reason or another, my father -- that's a very, mystery to us. 'Cause how did he know that Dave was in, back in Los Angeles? But anyhow, for some -- and then how did Dave get a message from my father? But whatever it was, it says, is says that, talked about Dave, talked about the good days of the rice ball and the, and then when he left in December, giving them the idea -- we read it, we re-read it, and we came to the conclusion what he meant was, "I'm in Terminal Island, I will be leaving in December." And with that, we felt, "Oh, wow. He's going to be with us."

About the same time, they said, WRA announced that those people in, that been interned, will be, will meet us at the, at the dock on the ship. So with this message we says, "Okay, our father's going to be with them." That, that really relieved my mother. My mother's, all of a sudden, all this worry, and she says, "All right. Father's going to be there, so we won't have to worry." Says, "We'll continue to prepare to go to Japan."

<End Segment 38> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.