<Begin Segment 9>

MN: After that, you and Tsutomu went to Tule Lake...

HM: Yes, we went there. After we went to Tule Lake, Takeshi and Miyoko's father, they came to Tule Lake too. They left Leupp.

MN: As for those who were sent from Leupp, I heard that they were put in a prison in Tule Lake first when they arrived at Tule Lake. Did Takeshi mention anything about it?

HM: He didn't mention anything like that. In Tule Lake. Was there a prison in Tule Lake? I don't know anything about it.

MN: That was a stockade. Jail.

HM: I don't know anything about it. I wasn't in there. It wasn't there. I don't know anything about it.

MN: Which block were you in in Tule Lake?

HM: Thirty-four. I lived in Block 34.

MN: In Tule Lake, you lived with Takeshi and Tsutomu, didn't you?

HM: Yes, there were three of us and another guy, Fujikichi. Five of us lived in a room in Tule Lake.

MN: There was a strike after you went to Tule Lake.

HM: Yes.

MN: Why did you have a strike?

HM: We were making demands. We were saying, "This area is dirty," and, "The roads need to be fixed." We were making demands. The boss at Tule Lake is American, a Caucasian. We were demanding they fix the roads. "The food is terrible at the canteen. Feed us with better food." We were demanding various things. The Caucasian boss refused them. That's why we had a strike. Another incident was that... there was a strike... there were farmers working on a field. There was this field, and all the farmers went to work in the field on a truck. I worked in the field too, there was a field. On a truck. One day, a seventeen-year-old Japanese American boy, the boy was driving. He didn't have a driving license. A lot of Issei guys were on the truck, and the boy drove the truck and had an accident. He was crossing a bridge, driving on a bridge, drove over, and the truck turned over. The Issei people on the truck, those people on the truck, about fifteen people were all killed. Everyone was angry. It was wrong to let the unlicensed drive. We were very angry at the boss. We asked for the resignation of the boss, but they didn't do it. Coming up with all excuses. That's why we had a strike. We made demands to have this and that fixed. We were angry. We had a strike.

Then, Hoshidan started to act up. And the food... we had a strike and didn't have a lot of food available. They provided bread. No good food. One morning, we woke up and found a lot of American tanks running all over among the barracks. The food got worse, it was pretty bad. Everyone went to the canteen to buy some food. Some of us went there to buy food. The food was pretty expensive there, any kind of food. [Inaudible] The boss there was a Japanese guy. He was supposed to improve the food there, but people thought he was skimming food for himself. They were saying he was cheating us, and people got hostile toward him. He went out one night and was murdered. The Japanese boss at the canteen. That's what happened. There was a funeral for him.

MN: Did you go to the funeral?

HM: I didn't. There was a temple. People went to the temple for the funeral. Many people were there, and the priest spoke to them. I didn't go to the funeral. Even at the funeral, if the priest had said something wrong, like, "The murderer is a monster," he would have been killed. The priest. I didn't know what he said. That's what happened.

MN: There was a murder, and you saw a lot of military tanks coming in. How did you feel when you lived in Tule Lake?

HM: I was working as a farmer in Tule Lake.

MN: Weren't you afraid living in such environment?

HM: No, I wasn't.

MN: Did you buy food at the canteen?

HM: Yes, I bought a little bit of food at the canteen. I was going to Seventh-day Adventist Church. And the priest there, because the food was really terrible, I went to the priest. The priest lived in the same block across the street. In the same Block 34. And the priest treated me with food. I was feeling guilty just to eat his food, so I bought some food at the canteen and brought it over. I felt bad eating his food for free. Takeshi hated it. Takeshi beat me for spending money. Tsutomu didn't say anything. I was earning money, I was working. But Takeshi... I bought a bit of food at the canteen and brought it over to the priest at the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I felt bad eating his food for free. Takeshi hated it. He hit me. It was no use for us to have a fight. [Inaudible] Tsutomu didn't say anything. I told my wife, and she said Takeshi was wrong. "You were spending your money." Not a lot of money. I bought just a little. That was nothing. Takeshi hated it. Takeshi's friends came over and told him to beat me if I bought food. He said he couldn't do it. Takeshi hated it. I don't understand why he didn't like it. That was my money. It was nothing to buy just a little bit of food. But he hated it. Tsutomu didn't say anything. I told my wife Yoshiko, and she said Takeshi was wrong. We should not just eat without giving back. [Inaudible] That was nothing. Takeshi hated it.

MN: What did you eat at Tule Lake?

HM: We kept pigs. We had leftover food. We fed the pigs with our leftovers, and miso soup and everything had pork in it. Meat. I was having a hard time. Pork. The food was really bad. It was good in Topaz. In Tanforan, too. The food was really terrible at Tule Lake. Pork in everything. Pork even in miso soup. We kept pigs, fed them with leftovers, kept pigs and slaughtered them. And the food was bad, worst of all.

MN: You were buying food at the canteen because you don't eat meat.

HM: Right, the priest didn't eat meat either.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.