<Begin Segment 16>

TI: So let's, let's continue. So this is this period, while you're now, the lawyers are preparing for the case, and what was this period like for you? What type of things did you do?

BI: Well, I continued to come into Seattle to see him, I think twice a week, and he worried. He wanted my brother-in-law to come with me. He was afraid somebody might, there was so much publicity, he was afraid someone might attack me. So my brother-in-law did come with me a few times.

TI: And your brother-in-law's name was...

BI: Henry.

TI: Henry.

BI: But Father Ito was living with a lady that was, they weren't married at that time, but she was living with him, and she didn't want Henry to do that. She said people will think that, people will laugh, that his brother and I were going around together, and so Henry stopped helping me. And so I took the bus into Seattle and one time, going home from seeing Ken, the bus was loaded with passengers, and there was one man that was, got up and started ranting and raving about the "damn Japs," and, "we ought to get all the Japs and send them to the island and sink the island," and oh, he carried on and on and on. And I'm the only Japanese on the bus, and I just kept going farther and farther down in my seat, just felt terrible. And then suddenly he says, "Oh, where are we?" And the bus driver told him where we were, and he says, "Oh. I missed my stop," and then people laughed. But it was the most uncomfortable experience.

TI: The other people on the bus, what was their reaction when this --

BI: They didn't say anything.

TI: So no one told him, or no one, was there a sense of supporting what he said, or telling him to be quiet?

BI: No, no, no. They didn't support him. They were all very quiet.

TI: Were people sort of looking at you as he was...

BI: I don't know, because I think I was just looking down and looking out.

TI: Now, did this man sort of, was he fairly close to you when he was ranting like this? Was it clear that he was sort of directing this towards you?

BI: Oh, yes, surely, uh-huh. So that experience I remember it being, never forget.

TI: And this was on the bus ride from Bellevue to Seattle?

BI: Uh-huh.

TI: During this time, you mentioned how you would visit Ken maybe twice a week. Over the course of this time when he was in jail and you would see him, did you notice any differences in his, sort of his demeanor, how he handled this?

BI: Not really.

TI: Was he generally pleased with how Hammond and Agnew were handling the case?

BI: Well, you know, we didn't talk too much about the case. It was just... just reassuring me that things would be okay. He didn't want me to, to abandon him or anything, just giving each other moral support.

TI: Earlier you mentioned that you got no support from the, the Japanese community in Seattle. I was wondering, how about in Bellevue where the people that you grew up with? Was there any support for...

BI: No.

TI: When you saw people in Bellevue, did, what was their reaction? Did they ever talk about it, did they ask you how you were doing or anything like that?

BI: No, we didn't see, we didn't see the people. I don't remember seeing any of my friends. I can't remember anybody calling me or writing to me. The Japanese were all, had their problems, and so I was pretty much alone.

TI: How about your parents? Do you recall any conversations you had with your mother and father during this period?

BI: Well, they just wondered what it was all about. And, of course, they, nobody knew what was going to happen, so everybody was just wondering what next.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.