<Begin Segment 18>

BT: You mentioned your brother being in the Hoshidan. Were you also involved?

SY: Yes. We didn't question it, you know. And, well, people who were in Hoshidan, they were naturally going to Japan. So we didn't think anything of it. So we joined, my sister and I, and our friends, too, we joined.

BT: And did you feel like anybody was forcing you to do this?

SY: No, no.

BT: And what sort of activities did you do you while you were in the Joshidan?

SY: Well, I was the only one who could ride the bicycle, so they made me the liaison. [Laughs] Made me do liaison work.

TI: So like a messenger.

SY: Yes, a messenger, that's right.

TI: Back and forth, so you would have documents, you would go there, they'd give you something, you would come back.

SY: But I remember just riding on the bicycle once, that's all. [Laughs]

BT: They didn't work you very hard as a courier, did they?

SY: No, I guess they didn't have very much work.

BT: And so were you delivering from, like, one Hoshidan office? I know there was one Hoshidan office, but were there other offices?

SY: I don't know.

BT: Did you go to meetings?

SY: No, no.

BT: So what were the primary activities?

SY: I don't know.

BT: Were you running around the fence?

TI: You mean doing the exercise, like any exercises?

SY: Oh, yeah, marching and, you know.

BT: Calisthenics?

SY: Yes, uh-huh. That's before you started the march.

BT: How many people would be out there?

SY: Gee, I don't know. I don't think there were a hundred.

BT: So there was just, what, a group of under a hundred.

SY: I really don't know if there were more or not. I just remember the group where we congregated for the morning exercise and morning, you face towards the, towards Japan and then sort of rei, you know. That's about it.

BT: And did you do this every day?

SY: Yes, uh-huh.

BT: In the cold and in the heat?

SY: Yeah. Well, I don't think it lasted very long, though.

BT: Right. It seems to have formed sometime maybe around September of '44. And were your brothers involved?

SY: Yes.

BT: And were they doing other kinds of activities, also language school?

SY: No, no. I don't know what they were doing, but I guess that's why they were sent to Bismarck.

TI: Did you ever have the opportunity, did you ever have a conversation with any of your brothers before they were sent away?

SY: No. I don't know how they were sent there.

TI: You were, especially when you were doing the exercises, how did you feel? What were you thinking when you were doing that? Was there a sense... yeah, how did you feel?

SY: I didn't feel anything because, you know, it was fun. And nothing other than that.

TI: I've interviewed... and they're actually men who participated in some of these exercises, and for some of them, they felt, in some ways, empowered because after being, kind of just doing what was being told, they just felt like here they were doing something a little more active, and they just felt this sense of just being more active and more empowered. And I was just curious if you felt any of those feelings.

SY: No. I think if you're involved, really involved in that, you probably would feel that way. But I don't know, I thought it was fun, you know, doing the exercise and marching and all that. It's good for you, I thought.

BT: "Strong mind, strong body."

SY: Yeah. I mean, I didn't think too much about that. I wasn't serious or anything, you know.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2009 Densho. All Rights Reserved.