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TI: And so your, I'm interested in the boarding house in terms of, did you have a sense of how, any reactions from the Issei men about the outbreak of war? Did you notice anything about their reaction?

WY: Well, not too much, because you're so self-absorbed when you're young, you know. But I do remember that one guy was a Kibei from Japan. And he used to tell me all the time, "You Nisei think you're Americans, but you..." you know. "You're not Americans, 'cause why are you in camp for?" and things like that.

TI: I can't remember which story it was, but there was, one of your stories, you wrote about kind of a boarding house and the Issei men. And there was one scene where a young girl, one of the, I think he might have been a Kibei or something, came in and approached her sexually. Did things like that happen in the boarding houses?

WY: Well, it happened to me.

TI: Oh, so this was an actual memory?

WY: Yeah. The guy knocks on my door, and I was so innocent, I guess. My (room)... no, no. Didn't have a key or lock. And so I opened it and he comes in and he starts putting his arms around me. I said, "What are you doing?" And he said, "Come on." He says, "You want to kiss me, don't you?" And I said, "No, get away from me. Get away from me. You better stop that or I'm gonna yell." And my father was playing cards a couple of doors away, because it was a boarding house, so they'd play cards in somebody's room. And I said, "You better get away from me or I'm gonna yell." And he kept at it, so I yelled. I called my father. I said, "Oto-san!" Whole bunch of men came running. [Laughs] And they didn't say a word. They didn't say a word, the guy didn't say a word, he sheepishly went out the door, nobody said anything. Next day, another guy came over and put a lock on my door.

TI: Did your father ever say anything?

WY: Never said a word. He opened the door -- well, the door, I guess we didn't lock it, the man didn't lock it when I opened the door. I don't think I locked the door. I didn't think anything of it. And came in and started approaching me and I said, "You better stop it."

TI: And how did that sort of change you or make you think differently about things?

WY: Oh, those guys were single guys and they walk in -- they always used to tell dirty jokes to me and things like that. I didn't know what they were talking about. I'd just wave my hand at 'em, and they'd laugh and they'd go away. Nobody ever tried that on me (again).

TI: Well, how would, like, for instance, someone older, like your mother you mentioned was very attractive. Did she have a way of dealing with these, sort of, bachelors?

WY: Well, as I (saw) it, because my father was always around, nobody did that as far as I can see. Because once my mother got the boarding house, the landlord said he would fix it to city regulations, "For you alone," he said. "I don't want anybody else to be in charge of this thing. I will fix it to comply with city regulations." And then my father just stopped going to work. He would just sweep the sidewalk and things like that. So no, I don't think anybody bothered her or anything. Maybe that's why he stopped going to work. [Laughs]

TI: Yeah, I'm just wondering. Because again, these Issei men or Kibeis, bachelors...

WY: I guess they respected my father's presence, you know.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.