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MA: So I wanted to ask you a little bit about Pearl Harbor. And do you remember what you were doing when you first heard?

GY: Oh, yeah. Oh, yes, I had just come home from church. Our church was located on Grand Street, and it was a regular nice-looking old church. It's torn down now, but it, I went down, I walked down to World Hotel, which we had at that point, and turned on my Zenith radio, which was most of our entertainment. Listened to all these various programs on radio. Anyway, it was around twelve-thirty, turned the radio on, and all you heared was airplanes buzzing through the loudspeaker, and actual shooting of the war itself beginning in, at Pearl Harbor. And the announcers announcing, some in a very excited voice, some crying, announcing the war itself. I was just shocked. And that war had already been on, I don't know what time it started in Hawaii, but we're several hours behind Hawaii at that point. And when I turned the radio on at twelve-thirty, there it was, lo and behold, Pearl Harbor.

MA: What went through your mind when you were listening to the radio and hearing this?

GY: Well, we all immediately knew Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, we immediately knew there would be all kinds of haiseki finger-pointing going on. You didn't have to hit us on the head with a hammer just to tell us. Being Japanese, we anticipated name-calling, whatever, that would come out from the civilian population.

MA: You mean name-calling within the community, the Japanese community, or from outside?

GY: Although -- by the hakujins, by the Caucasians. It, it was, oh, I don't know, it was bad but not as bad as I think we perceived. Name-calling, yes, fighting, probably. I remember going to a movie theater, one of your better ones in Spokane, several of them. Fox and State Theater, Orpheum, they sold war bonds during intermission at the movie theater. And when the American flag came on, I don't know, I was eating popcorn or something, I never clapped. But the lady next to me -- the light was on -- she poked me and I knew what she meant, I had to clap. But I was eating popcorn, so... I didn't say any excuses or anything, but she gave me a dirty look and hit me.

MA: Was this a Caucasian lady?

GY: Oh yes, Caucasian lady. But during those hectic war years, at intermission, or before the next movie started, the American flag was shown on the screen, there was probably navy and air, not army air force, but military things, nature, but primarily the American flag was on the screen. And then the next intermission, people would come on stage and sell war bonds. Some called it liberty bonds, but war bonds. Let's see. You get a twenty-five dollar bond for seventeen dollars and fifty cents. At the end of twenty or thirty years, it matured. But we even so, during those war years, went to see a lot of movies. I enjoyed cowboy movies for one. John Wayne was my hero, still is. And yeah, we saw a lot of movies. Used to buy Coney Island hot dogs, used to cost twenty cents apiece, used to get five for a dollar, and two tax tokens or whatever. And I remember buying a bunch of Coney Islands and going into a movie theater, and that onion and that chili smell, and I used to -- [laughs] -- I used to eat it without making a mess of the aisle or the seat. You know, I don't ever recall making a mess, but we ate every bit of those Coney Islands, the guys. Never had a date so much, but the guys used to go, if it wasn't popcorn it was Coney Island.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.