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TI: Did they ever talk about how other Japanese Americans, in particular I'm talking about the Niseis who had never been to Japan, how they were treated by them? I've done about a hundred fifty interviews now with Niseis and Kibei and, and there was, for some people, a lot of tension between those two groups and I'm wondering if, if your parents ever talked about that?

RH: No, they never spoke badly about it, so it wasn't like they were, they were angry at any one particular person or anything. I think they understood why there might be suspicion or question about, about them, and being Kibei, not understanding the Nisei culture that was being developed at that time, it was, they just felt it was just much more difficult and they just had to kind of find their own way to the other Kibeis that were there, so they pretty much, from what I understand, the Kibeis kind of stayed together in their own grouping of folks in order to kind of survive in that way and support each other. And so it was like, almost like a subculture of people within the camp itself is what developed, from my understanding. And that kind of carried through from after the camp experience, from what it looked like to me, as far as, 'cause most of, most of our friends, family friends were, are Kibei. Were Kibei; a lot of 'em have passed on, unfortunately. And a lot of 'em were doing typical work, simply, maybe it was because, also because my father was in gardening, a gardener, that a lot of the people he knew were in that same kind of line of business or doing that kind of work and, or being in a labor type of work.

TI: Yeah, did your parents, because they were educated in Japan, did they ever consider returning to Japan? Quite a few Niseis and Kibeis went to Japan, renounced their citizenship and went to Japan right, during and right after the war. Was that ever considered by your parents?

RH: Not that I know of, especially because, I believe, since Hiroshima was bombed, atomic bomb, for them, at that point after the war it seemed for them there was nothing to really go back to and that they were being told, don't come back home, there's nothing here. And so it was difficult for, both my grandparents were still in Hiroshima at that time during the war, and so it was a difficult process for my, my family in that way, I think, because, first my father's brother, who was and my father were kind of estranged from each other, basically, because of the war. My uncle had joined the military, the army here and came, joined into the MIS, and he was, because of that my father was very angry at him for making that decision, especially since his parents, or both our parents were in Hiroshima still, in Japan, and so he questioned why he would do that when his own parents were, like fighting against his own parents, and so, and I believe when the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, after that whole experience it became even a more difficult relationship because of that whole thing, so it was almost like "see what happened" type of deal. And so it was very sad because when I was growing up I didn't even know I had an uncle. So i was that bad, basically. They wouldn't, no one talked of him, no one mentioned him, no one, he never came over, so I never knew really about him at all, until much later when I discovered that my father did have a brother, who actually lived in the Bay Area, and so, and I started, "Well, how come we don't see him? How come we don't know him?"

TI: And how did you find out that you had an uncle?

RH: Well, my, my grandparents were having problems health-wise and things, too, so it was naturally, and when my grandfather passed away, actually my father had to tell his brother what was going on, so it was at that point that I realized or started to hear, to realize this other relative and, and... 'cause there was property in Japan and all this kind of stuff, so my father had to kind of start dealing with this with his brother. And he wasn't very excited about doing it or having to do that, but he had to kind of take care of all that.

TI: And so what did your father tell you, when you were wondering, "So why didn't I know that I had an uncle?" I mean, what did they tell you about that?

RH: He wouldn't, he wouldn't say anything. He was very stubborn. Like me, I guess, in some ways. [Laughs] He was very stubborn in that way. He would not even talk about it, so most of the things I learned about what happened was through my mother or other, other relatives that kind of new about the situation, why that kind of happened. And, and for me it was just like, it was slowly kind of piecing things together why, what went on in that whole experience, like learning that my mother's parents passed away from cancer when they were very, when I was very young, in their early fifties. Never dawned on me what that meant, then I realized, wow, they were at Hiroshima and about six, seven years later they died of cancer.

TI: So thinking that the radiation from the bomb --

RH: Right, right, but no one ever said that. No one ever mentioned that. Other than the stories that my grandfather, my mother says she had heard that right after the bomb he went into the main city to look for relatives and friends and then people that he could find, he would bring in food for 'em, because they were outside, so they weren't immediately affected and, and they were on a farm on the outside, they would try to bring food and help wherever they could, and so he was constantly going into the main city right after the bomb dropped to help in whatever way.

TI: But I want to go back to your father and your uncle, did, did you ever talk with your uncle about what happened and his relationship with your father?

RH: No, I never did. Although much later on I got to know him a little bit but never really talked to him about that whole experience and what it meant for him. I just felt that was, my father had passed away before he did, so it was kind of unfortunate, I guess, that, and just before he passed away they kind of reconciled a bit, not totally, but at least they were, my uncle was coming over to the house and they would visit and stuff like this. So I felt, for them, they've done what they had to do to kind of, to understand what went on, basically, and I didn't want to go into it more with them to bring it back up, basically.

TI: Now, your father, was he older son?

RH: Yes.

TI: Did, was your uncle in a position to be in Japan after the war and to see, yeah, to, to help people or anything like that?

RH: I'm not sure if he did or not. Yeah, I don't know.

TI: Okay. Yeah, that's interesting.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.