<Begin Segment 27>

MN: I'm gonna switch gears a little bit. Frank, you're a Kibei-Nisei. Do you feel more connection with the Japanese nationals, or more connection with American-born Niseis?

FH: Well, I think now it's American. For example, if it's Olympic and so forth, I would think of what's the U.S. doing first before going to see Japan. Of course, Japan I will. But like the Winter Olympics, South Korea's doing pretty well, as well as China, so Japan is... I was thinking of the U.S. more. Because of the fact that not only we are living here for so long, I think I'm living in the U.S. much longer than I've lived in Japan. Japan is only twenty-two years out of eighty-four years of my life, and the rest of them are living in this country. Not only that, but my offsprings and the grandkids and so forth, my extended family, not in Japan at all. I have one auntie who is ninety-two years of age, and a cousin who is about seventy-something. But, and then I have cousins here and there. But when you get to cousins, it gets more and more remote. More or less like history, you know, like this guy has been the director of this country and so forth, I mean, his company and so forth in Japan. It's very remote, not like those persons who I persons who I daily contact. Like over here, we had the grandkids and grandson, and granddaughter who was age fourteen, a granddaughter who was age thirteen and so forth. But this granddaughter, she is a hapa, the mixed, husband is six-four, he's a pure Caucasian, works for Toyota motor company. But out of the Manhattan Beach middle school, the class of three hundred fifty students, she ranks number eight academically. [Laughs] And so this where heart is, more than what's happened in Japan. Japan is more or less the country where I have all the memories and so forth. Yeah, and went to school up to all the twenty-two years of memory and so forth. Not real, nowadays, but here, your life is right here.

MN: Now, we talked about it a little bit earlier, but when was the first time you went public with your story that you were a Nisei in the Japanese army?

FH: Well, I think when it came real public was by the forum that Yuji Ichioka had.

MN: And you -- just to reiterate -- did not get any hostile reaction to that when you went public with that?

FH: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. Because Yuji, he wanted a couple of categories. One, the university you graduated and went to Japan and so forth, wrote a book and so forth. That lady in San Francisco, and there was another guy that was a graduate of the (University of Utah) and went to Japan and became the professional interpreter and so forth, I forgot his name. Very well-known person. And then one category was the JA who served in the Japanese army, and that's where I was chosen to be on the board.

[Interruption]

MN: But there are not a lot of Nisei who go public about being in the Japanese army.

FH: Oh, yeah?

MN: I don't know anybody else except you and Mr. Sano.

FH: Oh, yeah?

MN: Do you know others?

FH: I don't know. I don't know.

MN: Do you think there is some shame associated with this?

FH: Well, my cousin, too, he was, into Japanese army and so forth, but he went to Korea and he became ill and so forth. And he's still living. And not even talk about those kind of things. He was drafted and so, drafted and voluntarily going into the army as the tokotai and so forth is completely different. Tokotai, may have been forced, but you know, in the end, it's a voluntary category. But like myself and so forth, it was drafted, and no way to resist. You had to, had to take it in, just had to follow, yes.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.