<Begin Segment 16>

TI: So let's talk about, so at some point, you then go from Poston to Tule Lake. So let's talk about that. When you got to Tule Lake, what was the registration like in terms of checking in to Tule Lake?

SY: Gee, I really don't know. I really don't know.

TI: So did, similar to what it was like when you first got to Poston, or, but you can't remember whether or not it was different?

SY: Gee, I don't remember.

TI: How about just a sense when you went to Tule Lake, did it seem similar to Poston, or did it seem, what were the differences when you went to Tule Lake?

SY: Well, the barracks looked the same except that in Poston we had a double roof. But in Tule Lake, it was single roof. And they all looked the same, the barracks. We had two rooms and more people, I think. No... I guess not.

TI: And do you recall the block number or what area at Tule Lake...

SY: Yes, we were in Block 36, Ward 3, I think they called it. They have six blocks, it made a ward. So we were in Block 3.

TI: And do you, can you recall... so your neighbors, I mean who, the people in your block, where they were from?

SY: I didn't ask, you know. [Laughs]

TI: Were these people that were there for a long time? Were they...

SY: They were there before we were.

TI: And they had been there for, like, months and months, or just previously, just right away, or do you know how long they had been there?

SY: No, I think they were there for a few months earlier, or a year.

BT: Can we back up a little bit, and did you have any idea why your family was being sent to Tule Lake?

SY: No, I didn't. We just... I heard we were being sent there to find out who wants to stay in the, in America and who wants to leave, you know, go to Japan. And I thought we were going to Japan.

BT: Do you remember about what time of the year it was? Was it in the summer or the spring, early in the year? I mean, did it feel cold or hot?

SY: No, it wasn't hot. Gee, I don't remember.

BT: And do you recall if it was before the whole the whole registration period when everybody had to sign the "loyalty questions"? Was it before then or were you in Tule Lake and then they gave out the "loyalty questionnaires"?

SY: We were in Tule, I remember.

BT: At the time of...

SY: Whether you want to leave or stay.

BT: Oh, so you were there before the leave clearance forms were passed out.

SY: No, we had to go to... I don't know where we had to go. They had about half a dozen... what do you call that? People who question you, you know, from the government. They had separate tables.

BT: Now that was for --

SY: And then you have to go there. They'll call you and then you go in. You sit where they said, "You sit here, you sit there." And then they'll question you, each question from the questionnaire, I guess, and then you answer.

BT: Is this talking about the renunciations of citizenship?

SY: Yeah.

BT: Oh, okay, which happened a year after the registrations or the "loyalty questions," actually more than a year.

SY: Oh, no, I don't know about that.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.