<Begin Segment 6>

TI: Okay, so I'm going to, I'm going to jump forward a little bit.

LH: Of course.

TI: And December 7, 1941. How did you hear about the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

LH: Actually, I came out of the Mount Baker movie theater and heard about it. And I remember that both my older brothers, older brothers and sisters, and my parents couldn't truly believe that it had occurred, you know. That it must just be some rumor or some story that was based on false facts, so to speak. I must admit, even before Tip School and after Tip School, for some reason, I never really focused on the fact that I was of Japanese ancestry. I guess growing up in a Caucasian neighborhood and going to school where they were primarily Caucasian, I must have felt that I was one of them. But that's when it hit me square in the face that no, I wasn't one of them, I was really an American of Japanese ancestry or for short, a "Jap."

TI: And so when this happened, did you, do you recall talking to family members, your parents, or anyone about, about this?

LH: Oh, yes. And in fact, for some strange reason, my father consulted John Ishii, who my oldest sister eventually married. I guess he respected his intelligence and knowledge of world affairs, that he finally accepted the fact that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor after speaking to John Ishii, very strangely.

TI: Because he didn't actually believe it? He thought that maybe...

LH: He just didn't believe it. I mean, by then we were hearing it on the radio at home, and talking, you know, to neighbors about it. But for some reason, he just couldn't accept the fact that the Japanese would be so foolish as to start a war against America. And you know, I think a lot of Japanese -- I met Admiral Nomura, who was one of the two Japanese ambassadors to Washington when the war started. And he was a leader in the Japanese navy, but he as well as General Yamamoto, the most famous Japanese army officer, had both lived in America and knew that we could never -- "they," the Japanese -- could never win against we Americans, especially if it was a prolonged war. 'Cause they knew of our industrial might, and they had told those in command that if you go against America, and you, because you truly believe in the greater co-Asia prosperity sphere, and you want to take over the main parts of China and Southeast Asia, then you sue for peace. Then they, Nomura and Yamamoto, felt there was some logic to going to war. But no, Tojo and the others felt they could literally defeat America.

TI: Interesting. Going back to... when you mentioned when you were born, your, you said your father was out with a government, or Japanese government official.

LH: Well, he was a member of the imperial household agency, the medical doctor.

TI: So was your, was your dad at all sort of targeted as someone that was close to Japan during this time, like --

LH: Was my father targeted?

TI: Yeah, was he, like, picked up by the FBI for questioning or anything like that?

LH: Oh, yes. Well, now, I should not mention the name, even though I've mentioned it in private, and I will to you later, but because of our close friendship with a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Seattle. I know to this day because I talked to him after the war, and after service in the Department of State, feeling that he might admit it to me, that it was through his influence our family was not broken up, and my father was not picked up along with other Issei leaders of the Seattle community. And he would never literally, orally state that it was he that saw that this occurred, but he did give me a wink.

TI: So how did this relationship develop between this, this FBI official and your family?

LH: Yes, my oldest sister, Lillian, had worked for Sakamoto, who ran some newspaper. And Sakamoto, for whatever reason, was a friend of this Bureau officer. And the Bureau officer became friends of my family.

TI: Interesting. This is the first time I've heard anything like that. So was your father brought in for questioning, or was he just...

LH: Well, I must say, at age thirteen, I don't recall those details, but I remember specifically this incident about the FBI and how I followed up on it later in life because I got to know this family. Okay.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.