<Begin Segment 9>

TI: And so during this time, when it looked like it was hard to book a transit back to the United States, was your mother anxious? Did she try and, want to get back, or was she okay with staying in Japan?

FK: Well, she wasn't as frustrated as I was, I don't think, because, you know, she was born there and raised there. But she said if I really wanted to come back, there was this Buddhist minister, was on the trip there, too. And there were, there were some people thinking of going to Shanghai because the President Line was still running at that time, I think there was one boat. And so she said that I could go with him, my brother was still here, and that I could stay with him and finish school until something, you know, if the war broke out or something like that, if something happened. And so I said, "Well, that's fine." So she talked to him and everything, well then, in the meantime, this happened, they broadcast over the radio that they're sending one ship back to Seattle, so we got back. But there were these girls that came on our ship from California, they were from, there were some from Sacramento, in that area. And they were in Shanghai, they actually went over there. But then they went over there and they found out there was a ship from... so they came back right away on the ship, and then they got on at the last minute.

TI: And so when you were on the ship coming back, did you talk with anyone about their experiences in the sense of an impending war with the United States or anything like that?

FK: No, we didn't. I guess... well, when you're younger, you really don't think about, at that time anyway, none of us talked about it. And besides, everybody was sick. [Laughs]

TI: Oh, just seasick?

FK: Yeah, the sea was so rough, it was November. And, but I never got sick, so I was up all the time, you know. And the very few of us were up all the time eating, but most of them were all sick. 'Cause it takes about, oh, it took about ten days to come, to travel from here to Japan.

TI: Well, I think you're, it was probably one of the last ships to make it back to the United States from Japan.

FK: Yeah. Because the Tatsuta-maru that I said coming, the second ship had to turn back. That was really sad. You know Yoshi Mamiya?

TI: Yes.

FK: Well, Yoshi's mother and sister were on that boat. They didn't get onto the first boat, it was too late, so they were, they got onto the one to California. They had to turn back, and so they had to spend the whole wartime in Japan and it was really rough, I think. That's what Yoshi was saying.

TI: So when you got back to Portland, did you, did you still think that there might be war, or what did you think after you got back to the United States? Because this was November, this was still before December 7th.

FK: Right, but I didn't think it was, they were going to attack us like that.

TI: That was interesting. Well, thank you for doing this.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.