<Begin Segment 3>

AI: Well, so then, you told me, then after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, that December 7, 1941, what do you remember about that day? How did you find out?

JY: Oh, only thing I knew is, see, I'm going, living on the farm, there was no way my boss could send message to me, so he had his friend, (who has) a telephone. The person who got me the job, he came to my house and told me, "The boss said, 'Don't come to work Monday.'" I'm fired. The person (who) came to (tell) me, he's the guy who... what do you call it? He brown-nosed me. See, what happened is when I was about sixteen, I slapped my father. And he's a Japanese, too, and he came to my house and tried to lecture to me. I told him, "Get the hell out of here. This is a family problem." And he respected me for speaking up, young kid, 'cause nobody say that to an elders. So he's the one who found me (the) job, I was driving a semi. He was a Hawaiian (Nisei who) spoke English. The Isseis didn't speak English. (...) He knew (lots of) the Caucasians who had business, and since I spoke up against him, (he brown-nosed me and) got me a job from, from one of his friends. The reason I slapped my father is because, you know how the Japanese are. The men treat the women like dirt. So I got tired of it, so (when) I was old enough, and (when) my father told my mother, "Onna no kuse, damatte iru," you know what that means. To, "Shut up. You're a woman, and you shut up." So that's when I slapped him, you know. I told him, "I've heard enough." I got old enough and big enough to beat him up, so I told him, "I'm gonna beat you up." And he went and told his friend about it. [Laughs] And he came to our house, and I kicked him out.

AI: So then, he's the one who helped get you -- he's the one who helped get you the job.

JY: Yeah.

AI: But then he also got the news and had to tell you that you were fired.

JY: Yeah.

AI: So, so then after that, what, what did you do after you were fired from that job? Were you able to get other work?

JY: No, I looked around, can't get no... only job you could get is working for another Japanese. The Caucasians wouldn't hire you.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.