<Begin Segment 22>

TI: So I mean, here's the last question I have written down, and this is something that I've been thinking a lot about the last couple years. This year is the seventieth anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. And back in 1941, '42, the U.S. government was really concerned that there were people in the Japanese and Japanese American community who were perhaps more loyal to Japan than the United States. And it seems in the last couple years I'm hearing more stories that perhaps are a little more frank about their pro-Japan sort of sentiments during, before the war, and even during the war. I'm wondering what you know or what you think about in terms of, I mean, were there people in the community who were very loyal to Japan during this time, and were some of these concerns real in terms of the people being more loyal to Japan?

JY: Well, I think the cap was put on that part for sure. Maybe when the war started, yes. There might have been quite a few who were very loyal. But when the, 1952, when they were able to get naturalized, then they were at peace with themselves. Like my father was real happy, now he could say, "This was the fruit of my labor. All these years, and now I own the land. I can sign my name on the land." I think that was a closure of, I would say 99 percent of people. Anybody that had any doubts, and you look back among your friends, your parents' friends, how many of 'em went back to Japan even to visit, I mean, before the war? Not too many of 'em. There were, said, "We got to make our home here. This is where we are, no sense going back and looking at what we left. What we left, we left." But I think, I would say that just thinking about the cross section of the area I lived in, Berryessa, I think 99.9 percent was pro-American. The fifty family that was living there, I would say majority of 'em didn't want to go back to Japan. They want to stay here, "This is our home. Our kids are here, our base is here. Sure, we don't own nothing, but still, our family's here." And then, "Why put our kids through the suffering that we went through to start all over again?"

And so I think in that respect, and they were allowed to get citizenship, I said before, I think that really, like my mom, I told you the story of how she struggled to get her citizenship because certain examiners are tougher than others. And one day I was, went home, and my mom was, had a piece of paper, reading it, and like most of the moms, don't read English at all, right? Most of them are all Japanese. The father understands English a little bit, but mom, her English is poor, zero almost. She was mumbling away, I said, "That sounds like Gettysburg Address. 'Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers...'" "Yeah, yeah." She shakes her head, "Yeah." "Hey, Mom, you mean to tell me he wants you to learn that?" Says, "Yeah, I've got to memorize that Gettysburg Address." Said, "What else you got to learn?" "The Preamble." She got to recite the Preamble. "What else you got to learn?" "I got to learn the ten amendments," before she get her citizenship. But she's bound and determined she's gonna learn and read, she got to recite the Preamble and recite the Gettysburg Address and write down the four, ten amendment to the Constitution. And then she got it. Here it is she couldn't read or write English but this is how bound and determined Isseis were. But that determination, I think they were so proud of themselves to get the citizenship, I think any change of thoughts, I think they just really just turned 'em right over.

TI: And so you said, like, 99.9 percent were, wanted to be loyal.

JY: Yeah, I would say.

TI: What about that .1 percent, though?

JY: Well, they... like traveling around the world working for Selectron, you talk to the people in the other countries and talk to people here, this and that, and then they still had a cloudy feeling, they want to go back. And then so I asked a lot of 'em that came to America and they went back, and said, "Would you go back to America?" Says, yeah, if they had a chance to go, they'll go back again. Says, "Now I'll live there." The majority of 'em that I talked to. Says, "I came back for a reason, taking care of the parents," or some reason that's beyond their control, so they're there. But other than that, they'll come back. So I think some guys just superficial, just, "Oh, yeah, to hell with the United States." But truly inside, they think you can't beat United States. I don't care where you go. I've been around the world many times. It's got everything. You got your freedom -- the big thing is the freedom.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.