<Begin Segment 14>

AI: Well, and speaking of the family, too, it seems like the family was so important, you're all working together, all doing what they, best they can to make a living for the whole family. I was wondering what kind of values your parents emphasized to you, if any of your parents ever talked to you about being Nihonjin, and what did that mean, how they expected you to behave, how they wanted you to act, and grow up, that kind of thing.

TI: Well they stressed honesty for one thing, and they wanted to have you get the best education through the school system as much as possible -- besides all the work that you had to do around the farm. Well, they stressed that you should have some fun along the way, too, but there was very little time for that.

JM: They really stressed pride in who you are. I mean, if you did something wrong, why, it would really hurt them. As a kid I remember one case where some, some boy got into trouble, and the father came to the Japanese Association meeting, and he hung his head and apologized for what his kid done. Those kinds of things, they really stressed at that time.

TI: There were several Japanese families that had some troublesome children, had got into a little mischief. The way they handled it was that they sent the child back to Japan and had the parents -- grandparents bring them up until they got to be maybe teenagers, or long enough to crack the problem. And then, then they had 'em come back out. So they were more or less Kibeis when they came back.

JM: Well, they wanted to kind of take care of it themselves. I mean, the Japanese community take care of themselves. They didn't go to the authorities for anything that was a problem. They just -- within the community -- they try to iron those things out, that's the way they thought. Because it would spoil the reputation of everybody, if they went to the authorities it would be in the papers and everything. Bellevue, though, like I say, had a pretty good reputation of being a model bunch of people.

AI: And when you were, like say in your teenage years, how did you feel about being, did you feel some pride in being Nihonjin, being part of the Japanese American community?

JM: I didn't give it any real deep thought, it just, well, it took for granted that you're supposed to act like you're supposed, like you're told.

TI: Yeah, for the most part, I didn't feel any different than anybody else, and I'd like to think that I was accepted in the same manner. But sometimes you wonder.

JM: Yeah. [Laughs]

AI: Well, and then, of course, I guess everything pretty much changed in 1941. Actually, before war started, I understand that some people had a feeling that there might be some trouble with Japan. Is that -- did any of your families sense that, or have any discussion about that kind of...

TI: Well, these families left several years before 1941, in the late '30s. Some of the kids that were in my class, their families went back, I don't recall the names of the families. But I believe there was a Ueno family...

JM: My neighbor family went back, they just, I guess they must have sensed something, but they went back before the war. But they left two daughters, I guess, here in the States, and they left, went to Japan. That's the only one I can recall, but I'm sure there were others. I think my other neighbor, too, the old couple, they left, too.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.