<Begin Segment 11>

TI: Before we go there, there are a couple other questions, because there was... well, one question was, did the FBI come to Waipahu, did they pick up anyone at the camp?

YI: Yeah, later on I found out, but way later though. They picked up, okay, like they already had a list, the Japanese school teachers, the minister, those kind of people. And we had, in the camp, what they called a Japanese social club, and the head of the social club I think was picked up, you know, during... immediately following December 7th. Then there was what you call a newspaper reporter that lived in a few houses away from me, he was picked up, he was a reporter, he represented the Japanese newspaper where he collected the newspaper fee and he wrote for the paper, he was picked up. And there were two papers, you know, the two language papers in Hawaii at that time so both writers were picked up.

TI: So there were people in the camps, several people picked up?

YI: Yeah, ministers, schoolteachers, yeah.

TI: You know, I was reading through some of your notes and you mentioned also a relative of the family of your father that was also picked up.

YI: Yeah. My father's cousin married a Shinto priest and then it was a second marriage for both of them. So naturally on December 7th, these are the people that were picked up, okay, all priests. And a few days later, my father found out that the kids were parentless, there were three kids, five, three, and almost two. And my father found out that they were watched by the custodian of that shrine. We're not related, okay, we're not related to these three kids because these are my father's cousin's step-grandchildren, you know, but I guess because, you know, we knew them, we went to pick them and we brought them home and we cared for them. I think we cared for them about six months. And I think that was one of the reasons why, maybe, that my father was picked up. My father's internment came way later though. He was picked up after, I mean, we're jumping all over but anyway, in May 1944.

TI: Okay, we'll get there, I just want to, we'll kind of walk through that. So your parents and your family took care of these three young children. Do you remember how it was for them, were they frightened?

YI: Well, I think the older one being five and he was a real smart kid so I think he sensed something but he was a big brother, he looked after a sister and the younger brother. In fact, I remember that the youngest one, not quite two, wanted to suck mama's breast because that's what he missed the most. They managed, I guess, I think they were with us about six months, I think.

TI: And then after six months, what happened to them?

YI: Well, finally we were able to find out where their parents were and then at that point they were at two different camps, the internment camp. And then they were giving a lot of families in Hawaii where the family members were interned, a chance to get out go to the internment and join the family. So we were able to make arrangement and then there was one family that was gracious enough to say we're going to the same camp, and we'll care for the kids. So we sent them off with them.

TI: So the kids could join the mother?

YI: Yeah, and later on I think they got together as a family I think. Well, there were no communication after we let the kids go, I mean, I guess they were restricted from writing whatever, never heard anything.

TI: And after the war, did you hear anything in terms of everything was okay?

YI: They came back, yeah, they came back. And they lost the temple, through a long lawsuit and stuff to reclaim the temple.

TI: I'm curious, you know, so your father's cousin married a Shinto priest, but then why did they take her? I mean, I'm curious, a lot of times I read that they take priest but then oftentimes the wife wouldn't be taken.

YI: She was also a priest too, I think, and that's my father's mother's side which comes from a Shinto family I think.

TI: It just seems so harsh to take the parents away from young children.

YI: Yeah, that would have been really, you know, I mean, some of the, what you call, atrocities of the war. I think they were very irresponsible. I mean, they came to pick the parents up, the parents were never given a chance to go home, you know, even to pick up their clothes I think. I don't know. The army was really... I think they were more scared than the civilians because of the fact that Pearl Harbor was bombed. They were sure the Japanese would invade.

TI: Yeah, it just seems --

YI: You read all of that, oh, the U.S. Army is so inadequate.

TI: 'Cause it's almost like they just left the children to fend for themselves and luckily your family took them in.

YI: The custodian was there.

TI: Yeah, the custodian but then your family stepped in to take care of them for like six months.

YI: I think it was about six months, I think.

TI: Okay.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.