<Begin Segment 17>

TI: So you mentioned Puyallup, so eventually you and your family were moved to Puyallup, the Puyallup assembly center. What was that like for you and your family?

AA: Well, I guess I was pretty bitter at that time. I was a junior at the University of Washington at the time, and... it was very uncomfortable living there.

TI: What were you bitter about? Think back to that time...

AA: The fact, the fact that I wasn't accused of anything, and I felt that the writ of habeas corpus was suspended. I couldn't believe what the government was doing to us.

TI: During this period, did you ever talk to your, to your uncle, James Sakamoto? Because during this time -- and it's a little controversial, but he was a official, high level official with the Japanese American Citizens League. And they took the stance that Japanese Americans should cooperate and go along with this.

AA: I didn't have any contact with him because I think he was in another area, and there was three different areas... four, I think it was, in Puyallup. But the first time I had further contact with him was in Minidoka.

TI: So you never got a chance to talk about... so let's go back to Puyallup. What type of activities, or what kind of memories do you have of Puyallup?

AA: Well, I remember the long lines and the, going into the mess hall. Some of, some of it was not too bad, I guess, in the evenings they used to have dances. And I was in Area D, that was the fairgrounds, and right next to it was a funhouse. I remember we used to climb up, everything was boarded up, we used to climb up on the roof and then pry open a window up there and get in there. And we'd roll around in the barrels and we had a good time. And we had a sentry outside, and when he saw the soldiers coming in, we'd get the high sign and we'd all scramble out and the soldiers would look around and wouldn't find anything. And as soon as they left, we'd go back in. [Laughs] We did all kinds of things like that. I didn't have too many friends at that time, so I hung around with a couple of Eurasian kids that were in, in Puyallup with me. My uncle Hiromu was married to a Caucasian woman, so my cousin was Eurasian, and so he hung around with a couple other Eurasian kids. And so, but eventually, they were all released before we went to, went to Minidoka.

TI: Now, explain that. So why were, because they were half Japanese...

AA: Half Japanese.

TI: ...half Caucasian. But according to the regulations, they would need to be also removed and incarcerated with other Japanese. Why were they released?

AA: I have no idea.

TI: Do you know where they went to after...

AA: My cousin went back and ran the greenhouse afterwards.

TI: So he came back to Seattle?

AA: Yeah.

TI: That's... is he still alive?

AA: No, he passed away several years ago. And there was another (Eurasian) family named Sugiura, they had quite a number of kids. The elder kids were released, but the younger kids stayed with the parents and they went to Minidoka.

TI: That's interesting. I'm curious, so these, these kids, well, I guess they were young adults...

AA: Young adults.

TI: ...who were half Japanese, half Caucasians, how did the Japanese and Japanese Americans accept them? Or what kind of relations did they have with these Eurasian...

AA: They got along okay, I guess, but I, they went to the dances and things like that, so I didn't recall any animosity between the two groups.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.