<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So let's talk about December 7, 1941. Do you remember that day and what happened?

KT: Well, I guess I heard about the war on the radio, I think. And that Sunday, nobody said anything to me about the war, or I didn't notice any animosity or anything of that. It was on December 8th that I really remember, because I was a school patrol boy, and my jurisdiction was Fourteenth and, Fourteenth and Main Street was my corner to watch, kitty corner across Collins Playfield. And I was on the, I guess that would be the west side, southwest corner of that deal. And I had my patrol flag and my patrol belt on, and that was my intersection to put the flag out. And all of a sudden, a car comes, going, traveling south on Fourteenth, came right at me. And he was coming at me so fast that he made me jump back on the curb, because I was afraid of getting hit on the curb. And then the driver pops out of his, opens up his driver, steps on the running board, and he really blasted, cussed me out. And after I was called a "Jap" and whatnot, and all the thing, "Jesus, boy, people are mad at us," you know. That was my first realization that we were hated. And boy, did he cuss me out. And then all of a sudden, he asked me what the heck I was doing down there, and I says, "What am I doing there?" I got my flag, I even had that flag up because I thought he was gonna attack me, you know. Then all of a sudden, bam, he shuts up, jumps into his car and drives off. But that was the first time I was called a "Jap" and whatnot, and the first time I felt the hostility of the people. To me, out of the clear blue sky. I didn't do nothing to him, I'm just standing at the corner monitoring the flag there, and he jumps out and gives me the "H" and whatnot.

TI: And do you recall how you felt about that? So you're probably shocked...

KT: I was shocked. Took me a while to get over that incident, that's why I remember it so badly.

TI: And when you think about that now, I mean, do you recall some of the feelings that you had about that? Whether there was anger, fear, shame?

KT: Well, it made me realize that we were hated, you know. On the Sunday of Pearl Harbor Day, I was walking around the street, and nobody expressed anything to me. Everything was same as usual. Never thought I was in any danger, that was the only time that physically I felt, "Hey, this guy was out to get me."

TI: How about school? Did you notice anything different in school?

KT: I really didn't notice anything in school.

TI: Now, you were born in Japan.

KT: Yeah.

TI: Did you, did you think about that during this time, thinking, "Oh, I was born in Japan, Japan attacked," was there anything...

KT: Those thoughts never ran across my mind at that... as far as I was concerned, I was a Nisei at that time. I mean, I never distinguished myself as an Issei until all these forms started, I had to fill out. I said, "Gee, what do I have to fill out on this thing?" [Laughs]

TI: Well, at what point did you understand that you were born in Japan and not in Seattle? Was there a certain, because you wouldn't know as a baby, but at some point, you probably learned that you were born in Japan. Do you recall when that happened? Or was it a sense that you always knew that you were born in Japan, or not?

KT: I knew I was born in Japan, but I never, nobody ever made a point of telling me that, "You were born in Japan," or anything like that. I guess, well, when I was going to college, I would get a call saying, "The Japanese foreign-born are invited to a dinner at so-and-so places, would you like to go?" I said, no, I wasn't interested. I says, "I have a home here, I have a deal there." But, you know, I never really thought about it too much.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.