<Begin Segment 16>

TI: And so December 7th, you talked about how people --

HH: December 7th was a Sunday, so you had them... well my father was trying to make sure he had food for his family.

TI: And so it sounds like he was already thinking ahead, and he was thinking, "Okay, food," had to plan ahead. And then you mentioned December 8th he was picked up.

HH: Yeah, he was picked up, by seven or eight o'clock. But we were lucky because the guy who came to pick us up was a detective, Japanese, and he was our neighbor. He had lived right across the street. So when he came he was very apologetic, sorry he had to go pick him up and take him for questioning. But he would touch for weapons, but that was just outside. He didn't come in the house, and he went, and he was, and then we never saw him for four years after that. But I met a guy in Waimea, and he had his father come, and he said that was most horrible experience he ever had because the guy who picked him us was not Japanese and he said treated him like a criminal from that moment, so he said it was the most horrible experience that he had. So it depended. We were lucky 'cause we knew, well my father was well-known, so he was treated politely and we thought he'd come back after the questioning, but we never saw him after that.

TI: When your father was picked up, were you home when that happened?

HH: Oh, yes, because, because of the war everybody, no school, so I was home and I was in the living room. So I saw, that's why I know that he touched him and tried to see if he had any hidden weapons.

TI: And you mentioned seven or eight, was that in the morning or at...

HH: Morning.

TI: Okay, so right away in the morning he was picked up.

HH: A lot of them were picked up December 7th, that night. My girlfriend whose father is a citizen, he was picked up December 7th.

TI: Interesting. But I want to go back a little bit because it's, this is the first time I've hear of a Japanese police officer picking up Japanese.

HH: He was a detective.

TI: Okay, a detective, so was he a Nisei, was he a U.S. citizen?

HH: A U.S. citizen.

TI: And about how old was he?

HH: Oh, he must have been in his forties or fifties.

TI: Okay, so he was pretty old, detective... by any chance do you --

HH: And he was right across, he lived right across our house.

TI: So he knew the family really well.

HH: Yes, yes.

TI: Do you recall his name?

HH: (Takemoto). No, I did, 'cause of course they were... and my brother played with his son and, you know. They had no daughters, but...

TI: And so when he was...

HH: Well, he was so polite, right?

TI: Would he speak, do you recall if he spoke Japanese to your father?

HH: Oh, no, English.

TI: Interesting. And so he didn't search the house or anything like that.

HH: No, no. Everything was done on the porch. You know, you had a porch and I was sitting inside the living room, and then it was just, then they went.

TI: And what was your, the reaction of your father, when this was happening?

HH: I kind of think, I don't know. He was, "Oh, well" -- I mean, because the guy is a friend, too, so he probably thought he was just going to be questioned and come back, so he didn't take anything. He is usually in a business suit, so he went with that and didn't come back.

TI: And you say you didn't see him for, what, four...

HH: Four, four years.

TI: Four, almost five years.

HH: They returned November 1945, three months after the war ended.

TI: What about your reaction, when you saw this neighbor detective, who you knew, and you knew he was a police officer, you know, kind of pat your father down and take him away? What was going through your mind?

HH: No, I don't know.

TI: You don't remember. Do you feel, do you remember what you felt? Were you frightened or...

HH: Oh, no, no. No, because it was quite nicely done. He apologized, "Sorry I got to take you to, for questioning." And with Japan hitting U.S., you... anything goes.

TI: Well, this is probably the most gentle FBI or police officer pick up I've heard.

HH: Yeah. Well, because they were friends.

TI: Yeah, this is, this a little unusual.

HH: But the guy in Waimea, was, he said was the most horrible experience.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.