<Begin Segment 11>

AI: Well, now, in the meantime, that was a Sunday, December 7th, and the next day was a Monday. Normally you would then go to classes in the morning and go to work. Tell me about that day, December 8th.

MN: Well, felt real subdued about going to school, but nobody discussed anything about it, so we went to all our classes, and only one teacher came up to me and said that she felt badly for us, and that she would be of any help to us if we needed it. But she was the only one.

AI: So you didn't get any direct negative treatment, but also...

MN: No positive or negative.

AI: What about when you reported for work that afternoon?

MN: I didn't feel anything.

AI: So again, you didn't get any immediate negative...

MN: No, no vibes. The kids were too young to understand, anyway, and like I say, the principal was very kind and understanding, so it made it a lot easier.

AI: Well, as December continued on, do you recall anything about the end of that year, the holiday season or New Year's?

MN: It's a blank. We went through the motions, I would imagine, but that's about it.

AI: And were there any rumors going around that you had heard about what might happen?

MN: Oh, yeah. There was rumors every day.

AI: Tell, tell me about what kind of things you were hearing.

MN: That we were going to be put in camps and we thought, well, we're citizens. We don't have to go. But that was our firm belief at that time, but things changed, and we were soon rounded up and left for camp.

AI: Well, before that happened, there were some other restrictions: curfew and travel.

MN: Yeah, we couldn't travel, and I don't know what the radius was where we couldn't go from one place to another, and there was a curfew, we had to be in by eight o'clock and not leave the house 'til six. And the Chinese wore "I'm Chinese" buttons. Well, my brother borrowed a Chinese button, and he used to go out at night, but I don't know whether my mother knew he snuck out, but he always came home safely. [Laughs]

AI: What about, some people got worried about things that they had from Japan. Did your family get rid of anything, or destroy any things?

MN: My sister was saying that my mother was getting rid of some of the books, and burned it in the furnace, but other than that, we didn't do, we didn't destroy most of the things.

AI: So then, as time went on and as I understand it, newspaper coverage became, started becoming more negative toward Japanese and even Japanese Americans. Did you notice any increasing negative feeling toward you in January/February?

MN: No, I don't recall.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.