<Begin Segment 37>

TI: And why don't you talk about that day and what that was like when you were getting ready to leave Tacoma.

HH: Well, by that time, we had all that notices and everything else that we should pack only whatever we can carry and all that kind of instructions given to everybody. And that was, notice was posted on the streets, especially around the area of the Japanese community for all the Japanese.

TI: And then so you had to, so what happened to the store?

HH: Well, so we had to eventually lease the store, and then also I had my car, the same car that I had in Seattle, that we had to dispose of our furnitures and whatever and rental home that we had. And at that time, the junk... or not the junk but more of a, there was a widespread effort, I guess, on the part of the people that, firms that wanted to buy whatever furnitures and everything else that's left, and they were almost sold for practically nothing.

TI: So you'd have these sort of people, companies or whatever, coming by the Japanese community trying to buy furniture and things at essentially pennies on the dollar, kind of, just really cheap. And then, and so did they approach your family to buy things?

HH: Yes, and so we actually, my father, we didn't have that good of furniture anyway, but after the war, we found out they were sold as antiques.

TI: Oh, so what you thought was just old furniture, actually, after the war, those were all sold at a much higher price because they were antique.

HH: Yes. But we did have piano and things like that, but we just didn't, because they just offered so much for the whole lot, and we thought it was, why, so we just left it in the rented place.

TI: And so what were you able to take with you?

HH: Just what you could carry, and so we had to pack whatever clothes, but you can't carry too much big things, but my car was left with my, this was a lawyer's office, Mr. Johnson, that he was able to take care of the lease part and dispose of all our stock and everything else. And then his wife was kind of a friend of my mother, although they couldn't speak to each other, but she was interested in a flower and garden club, especially growing chrysanthemums. And my mother used to grow real good chrysanthemums that she would put into Puyallup Fair, and she would get the top awards. Anyway, she knew the wife of the lawyer also, and so she put some of her bonsai, left it with her, and then also I left my car there.

TI: So your family in this respect was fortunate having friends who would help take care of some things for you, like your car.

HH: Yes. And he also was able to, we decided to just sell the stock and then he would try to dispose of when that person finally decided not to run the grocery store after we were in evacuation camp. He took care of all the storing of fixtures and things like that that he couldn't sell.

<End Segment 37> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.