Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Sumie Suguro Akizuki Interview
Narrator: Sumie Suguro Akizuki
Interviewers: Shin Yu Pai, Tom Ikeda
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: October 30, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-asumie-01-0003

<Begin Segment 3>

[Ed. note: This transcript has been edited by the narrator]

SP: Well, shifting gears a little bit, can you tell us a little bit about what Bellevue was like in those early days, prewar?

SA: Well, about fifteen percent of the population was, were Japanese Americans. In the early, well, I went to Bellevue grade school and the population was only about 2,000 at the time. And now, it's 110,000. You know, it has changed because of the floating bridge that was built in 1940. And there was a lot of prejudice, of course. We didn't, the Japanese people did not assimilate because they weren't accepted (...). That's the reason, like I said, they built the Kokkaido. And we had our own, like our own community. And the whites had their own, you know. And my brother even mentioned that when we used to catch the bus in the morning (to) go to school, the whites would (be) by themselves, and we would be by ourselves, and that's how it was.

SP: Very segregated.

SA: We were just really segregated, yeah.

SP: So can you tell us a little bit about the Kokkaido? So it was Japanese clubhouse that was built by the community.

SA: Yes, yes, built (cooperatively) by the (Japanese) community. And, 1930, the entire community built it together. The Bellevue Japanese Americans are a very cohesive, close-knit group. Even to this day, (...) the fourth Thursday in August, we get together at the Old Country Buffet, and there's about sixty of us that just go there and we socialize and talk about the old days. And after the war, there were seventy Japanese families before the war, all farmers. And after the war, only those that owned the land went back. And that was only about twelve (...) families that returned. Bellevue had these town meetings to protest our return, and we just not, we weren't very welcome. And there were, I understand this was written in the newspaper that about five hundred people went to the first meeting. And then the second time, the attendance wasn't as great. And there were a lot of, not a lot but a few of our friends that supported us, high school classmates and old friends, that were there to support us, you know, too, so we did, it wasn't like they were all hostile toward our return.

TI: So Sumie, can you explain that a little bit more? So you said at the first meeting there were --

SA: About five hundred.

TI: This was after the war, or during--

SA: After the war to protest our return. (Narr. note: The Western Defense Command lifted the ban which enabled persons of Japanese ancestry to return to their homes. This ban was lifted in January 1945, before the war ended. So meetings were held while the war was still on.)

TI: So, five hundred people showed up, so you're saying that --

SA: Yes, and they all signed a petition.

TI: But then you said the second meeting it dropped off.

SA: It dropped off, and then there were, and then the first meeting as well as the second, there were a lot of supporters for us, too. Friends.

TI: Okay, so part of the lower attendance was that people came out and spoke in support of Japanese Americans and that kind of quieted down, and so the second meeting wasn't as large?

SA: Yeah, and I understand that some of these, one of the leaders said for those that supported us, they said they should have their own meeting. [Laughs] He said, "You should have your own meeting, if you want them to return."

TI: And how did you hear about all this?

SA: You know, it was written by the press. In the book (Strawberry Days) (...) my father was one of the younger Isseis. And in fact, he was the last (Issei to farm) in Bellevue. (In our family) we were the younger Niseis, (...) I had a younger brother, too, who started first grade (in Bellevue). When I returned in my class, there was only one Japanese boy and I was the only Japanese girl in (my junior class). It was called Overlake High School at that time, the only high school in Bellevue. Now it's called Bellevue High School, (...) I think there was only about six of us Japanese Americans in the entire high school. (...) There were about three or four blacks. The Donaldson family were (...) siblings there. So that was it. All the others were white. (...) They (didn't) have to say anything, but you could just feel the prejudice (...). And when I returned (...) on January 20th, and by that time, the winter quarter had started, so I was placed in the (...) back row. And I didn't realize it, but I couldn't see the board, and I just couldn't ask anyone to ask them about the assignment, and it was really tough. And then to add insult to injury, I was a junior, I had to take freshman Washington State History, because it was compulsory before you graduated from high school. And so I had to take Washington state history with all those freshmen kids. [Laughs] And so (...) it was (a difficult time).

SP: So if you don't mind, let's come back to that a little bit later.

SA: Okay, now I'm going too fast, I'm sure.

SP: No, it's fine.

<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.