Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Tetsushi Marvin Uratsu Interview
Narrator: Tetsushi Marvin Uratsu
Interviewer: Tom Ikeda
Location: Emeryville, California
Date: May 25, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-utetsushi-01-0028

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TI: So we're actually coming to the end of the time, so I'm going to jump around a little bit. And so I want to go to the end, when you're in Japan. And there was a time when you were able to visit your uncle? I think you were going to leave Japan, and before you left, you wanted to visit your uncle, and I wanted you to tell that story of how you saw your uncle.

TU: Yeah. I think it was in May because I came home in May. Before I came home, I went to see them, and there were about four families that I should see. And so I packaged up four bagfuls of goodies for four families, those that I could buy from the PX, and went down there. And took the train down, and I felt kind of uneasy. The train, there was one special train just for GIs like me, and then the ordinary Japanese would be crowded into a limited number of cars. And I thought, "Gee, that's not right, but who am I to try to change that?" [Laughs]

TI: Because your car was just almost empty and you had lots of room, and other ones were overcrowded?

TU: Yeah, yeah. So it's unfair, but that's what happens when your country is defeated. So I get to, I think it's Tamana station, and I have this duffle bag full of stuff, it's kind of heavy. So I was going to get a taxicab, naive me, a taxicab at that time? No way. There's no transportation taxi-wise. So this stationmaster, I guess it was a stationmaster, he said, "I'll get you a jinrikisha." You know what that is, jinrikisha? It's this buggy-like that a man pulls.

TI: So it's kind of like a rickshaw?

TU: Rickshaw. Jinriki is "manpowered rickshaw." That's what it is. Should have explained that. So this guy comes along, and sure enough, he's got this rickshaw. And he tells me to get on, and the baggage gets on, and he started to move. And I see he's an old man, bowed legs and everything. So I felt sorry for the guy and said, "Would you stop, please?" So I got off and I said, "Just take my baggage for me." And I said, "Where do you want to go?" I said I wanted to go to this school where I knew my uncle was a teacher. So we go to the school there, and you could see that I was creating sort of a stir there at the school. 'Cause here I am with a U.S. uniform, and my uncle told me later on that they thought, the teachers thought, that I was there to investigate if they complied, if the school complied with the edict that certain textbooks shouldn't be used anymore because they're too militaristic. They thought I was there to check on that. Well, when I told 'em I'm Tetsushi, "Oh, you're Tetsu." [Laughs] Tet-chan.

TI: And so was this an uncle that remembered you when you were a little boy?

TU: Yeah, my mother's brother, mother's younger brother. And I knew he was a teacher there because I went to school there. So anyway, the principal told him, "Take the day off and take your nephew wherever he wants to go." So from there, went to the village, Yokoshima-mura, where I met with the rest of my relatives. Curiously enough, they wanted to know how we were treated in the States. We're thinking we're worried about them, but they're worried about us, that we are mistreated.

TI: And how much did they know about the removal, the camps and things like that?

TU: I don't know. I told them that we were all gathered in camp, shuuyoujo, I guess is the term that was used. They had some inkling about that, because I think for propaganda purposes, they must have picked up on that. But anyway...

TI: And so that was kind of the end of your time...

TU: In Japan.

TI: ...in Japan, and then that's when you then returned and then worked as kind of a farm worker to harvest the...

TU: Just in time. I got back in May of ('46) just in time for harvest. When I finished the harvest, then I went to school here in Berkeley, and I've been here ever since.

<End Segment 28> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.