<Begin Segment 9>

MM: And the schoolkids, the kids at school, during the war, the very first day, the principal had a big assembly.

MA: This was, when was this?

MM: Huh?

MA: When was this?

MM: Right after the, the war was on Sunday, and on Monday we had a big assembly, and the principal got up there and talked, and he did a real good job.

MA: What did he say?

MM: Huh?

MA: What did he say? What did the principal talk about that day?

MM: About the war, that there's American Japanese going to school, he was really good. But oh, maybe once in a while you'd hear somebody making a comment, but we were really lucky. I mean, we didn't have... I don't think, I can't even think of anybody that had any problems.

[Interruption]

MA: And this was Lewis & Clark High School?

MM: Uh-huh.

MA: And you must have been a junior?

MM: Yeah, I was about a junior, yeah.

MA: How did your parents respond to the news about Pearl Harbor and the war starting?

MM: Oh, they were, they felt real bad. They had to turn in their zasshi, their magazines, and any kind of guns or knives or anything, or even pictures of the Tennoheikai, pictures or anything, had to turn 'em all in to the police station. And that wasn't bad, 'cause we didn't, we didn't have anything, I mean, like guns or...

[Interruption]

MA: Well, I know the FBI took a few --

MM: Oh, Mr. Kasai, uh-huh.

MA: -- Isseis away. Do you remember that?

MM: Yeah, because Mr. Kasai was our good friend. See, he lived about a block, next block down, he had a hotel, too. And he took him to Montana, where they have the... yeah.

MA: The camp, the internment camp?

MM: Uh-huh. But...

MA: Why do you think they, they targeted Mr. Kasai?

MM: Because he was the mayor of Spokane. Everything -- I mean, he was the mayor of the Japanese community, let's put it that way. [Laughs] Yeah, he's, he was always, he took care of everything, and every time anybody had problems, they always went to Mr. Kasai, because he understood English real well, and he took care, and everybody, hakujins all knew him. And Spokane isn't that big of a community, so everybody knew him. And Mr. Kasai was really, he was sharp, but he wasn't mouthy or... he was nice to everybody, and he made sure that everybody was treated right.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.