<Begin Segment 13>

MN: Now, after the war, have you been back to Heart Mountain?

JI: We went by the... last year?

Off camera: Yeah, last year we went.

MN: Now, the land that you converted into farmland, is that still farmland?

JI: Everything's all farm now. Here ours was the first one in the whole county. And right now, the whole area is farm. So I guess I started something, remember having to walk out of a concentration camp, past the soldiers who were guarding, and then walking around the whole area and deciding what to do with, I was told to feed 12,000 people, so had to decide what to do. We were lucky that we were not too far from the river, Shoshone River. And along the river you have some, well, it's more sandy along the river, and you're able to grow things. So I was able to feed the 12,000 people, plus send excess to other camps.

MN: How does it feel to know you started this farmland, and it's still going?

JI: Yeah. We went there last year, and the whole area is now agriculture. And before, there wasn't any. It was all desert land. So it's quite, well, makes you very happy that things have gotten so well. And now you can't find any coyotes. [Laughs]

MN: Jim, how do you feel about redress?

JI: My what?

MN: Redress. Redress. When Ronald Reagan signed the redress bill, did you think that was possible, that Japanese Americans would be given an apology and compensation?

JI: Well, I'm very happy about it.

Off camera: It happened on his birthday, August 5, 19...

MN: '88.

JI: Yeah. It's been a long time. [Laughs] Lot of things have happened.

Off camera: Reagan signed the reparations bill on August 5, 1988, his birthday.

JI: Yeah, I've been involved in a lot of things.

MN: Do you have anything else you want to add, Jim?

JI: I forgot everything.

MN: You're doing pretty well. How old are you right now?

JI: Huh?

MN: How old are you?

JI: Ninety-six.

MN: Okay, Jim, if you have nothing else you want to say, then I want to thank you very much.

JI: Well, it's very nice for you to come, and I appreciate that.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.