<Begin Segment 6>

SF: Do you think that that experience of being a part of a community in that way, do you think that that had any kind of effect on the way you viewed things, or anything you did later?

AH: No, I don't think it did. I was still used to the customs and things of this country. And there was enough Japanese around the place to associate with. I worked for Japanese and stayed within the community.

SF: What did you do for social things? Play baseball, go to Japanese dances?

AH: Unfortunately, I had to quit school early to help support the family. So I had very few social activities. In fact, I didn't, I did used to go to church. But I can't remember any social activities as such.

LH: Which church was that?

AH: Buddhist church. The old church up on Main Street.

SF: Maybe I could ask you a question about what family life was like in those days. How would you describe your relationship with your mom and dad?

AH: Well, we obeyed them. [Laughs] That's the way we were brought up and we didn't rebel against what they had told us we should do and should not do. We were very close-knit families.

LH: Did you feel that there was any special responsibility conferred upon you, being the oldest son?

AH: To some extent, but this is a funny thing -- I wouldn't say a funny thing -- but when the war started and the government started to issue directives and things like that to us, suddenly the shift of responsibility was from the Isseis to the Niseis. Because the Niseis understood what was going on and we were able to comply and take orders from the military. And so suddenly the... to me, the Isseis lost their, I guess would you call it, not control, but the senior members of the family. That we took orders and said, "Okay, we have to do this, we have to do that." And they had to comply with it. So that was a big switch.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.