Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Yae Aihara Interview
Narrator: Yae Aihara
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Denver, Colorado
Date: July 4, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-ayae-01-0006

<Begin Segment 6>

MA: So let's talk about December 7, 1941, when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. You had already mentioned that you were walking home from Sunday school. Can you tell me a little bit more about that day and what you remember of that day?

YA: Well, I, I remember... see, December, it's already dark by 4:30. The FBI came to our house and they searched it and they took my father away, with just the clothes on his back. And we didn't know why, but somehow I... because it was Japan and we knew my parents were, we were all Japanese. So I guess prior to Pearl Harbor, the political situation was getting so bad and threat of war was very imminent, so I guess we kind of knew that the war would start. So when my father was taken away, we, we weren't that, we weren't in shock, but of course it was still a shock, but we didn't think we would be separated like that.

MA: So when the FBI came and took your father away, did they also search the house, did they take other things?

YA: They took some receipts. [Clears throat] Excuse me. My father was involved in the prefectural association, they call it kenjinkai of the Wakayama Kenjinkai, and he had been president for many years. I think that was one of the reasons. Another reason, he was a member of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce, and another was he had been appointed an advisor to the Seattle dojo. My two younger brothers were learning judo and I don't think they knew what judo was. They thought it was some secret art, that and kendo. So all the kendo teachers, judo teachers, they were all arrested, too.

MA: And when your father was taken away, did you have any idea where he was going, how long he would be there?

YA: Uh-uh. We found out he was being held at the Seattle jail, and then he sent word to please bring his toiletries and some clothing. And my mother prepared some Japanese food and she lined the paper with the newspaper, the Seattle newspaper, and we found out later that was the first newspaper that those men had read in... had seen. So they were, they read the newspaper, as difficult as it was for them, they read it.

MA: They were really isolated, it seems.

YA: Uh-huh, yeah.

MA: So when... how many days had passed, I'm sorry, when you made contact with your father?

YA: Oh, I can't remember, but at least three days.

MA: And at that point, Pearl Harbor happened and then when you went back to school the next day, on Monday, what was the, the --

YA: Oh, the next day, three white boys said to me, "You damned Jap. Go back where you came from." And I was speechless, I couldn't answer. I didn't know what to say. But it was... we were all just kind of, you know, shrinking like this, all the Nisei students. We just supported each other, but we couldn't say anything.

MA: Did the principals or the teachers support you at all?

YA: No, they didn't say... no, not at all. They didn't say... it was school as usual for them. But some of the white students were quite mean.

MA: So your father was taken away. How did your mother cope with that? I mean, I assume she had to run the store?

YA: Yes. And a lot of our supplier... well, we didn't have too many suppliers, but he was also arrested. So, consequently, the sales just went down. And it was just the neighborhood Japanese that came to our store.

MA: And so she was taking care of the store and also the family as well?

YA: But by then, my two younger brothers were twelve and fourteen, so they didn't require that much attention.

MA: Did you find you had to take on extra responsibilities after your father was arrested?

YA: Well, we had to work harder in the store. No time for fun. We had no time for that.

MA: So, the Executive Order 9066 was issued in February. At that point, was your father still in Seattle or was he taken somewhere?

YA: I think he was in Missoula, Montana, by then. And I remember my sister was, went with some other Nisei girls her age to visit their fathers in the camp and I don't think she got to talk to him one on one like this. Through maybe a fence she saw him, and he looked okay.

MA: Oh, so she actually went to Missoula?

YA: To the Missoula, yes, to the camp. But they wouldn't let them in the same room.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.