<Begin Segment 6>

SY: So where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

MK: Well, let me see, that was a Sunday morning and Sachi heard it on the radio but she couldn't believe what they were saying but then... we had a two story house, she ran downstairs and my folks had already heard about it from the neighbors but they didn't know what was going on either. And I remember vaguely Sachi coming to tell me about it but I said, "Where's Pearl Harbor? What's Pearl Harbor?" I didn't even know anything about it.

SY: So your reaction was not terror or fear?

MK: No, it was just, "What's happening?"

SY: And so you didn't get any reaction when you went to school?

MK: Oh, you mean after, of course yeah. I think probably much of that maybe we brought on ourselves. I think we tended to cling more to our own Nisei then because we didn't know what others were thinking. I was in high school then but then it was --

SY: You didn't get any reaction from the teachers? You don't remember reactions from the teachers or other students?

MK: No, not really.

SY: But you stayed within your own.

MK: Yeah, it seemed like we kind of started to stay with Niseis which I never had done before.

SY: Really, wow, and how about... were you able to be involved in any sports activities with other kids at that time?

MK: Well, let me see, that was... by then though I was... I just graduated from high school in 1941 so it was just before then. And I was very active up to that point but then when I graduated then I was lucky enough... Sachi was working with the California Department of Employment then 'cause she had graduated from UCLA at the same time so she had gotten a good job there. And I guess she must have applied (for me) the national youth, NYA, I guess it was at that time, they had that youth program, so I was able to go with her to the Department of Employment just for those few months. And I remember working for the head of the department, I mean the secretary to the head of the department so I really did enjoy that.

SY: And this was between the period of Pearl Harbor and the time that you --

MK: When I graduated and the time of Pearl Harbor. So I graduated in June, December 7th, there's a couple of months there.

SY: Oh, I see so what were your plans? Were you planning to work?

MK: I was planning to go to UCLA but I liked this program so much I was going to put it off until the next semester. And then the war started so there went my dreams to go to UCLA. (When) Sachi was going, she had gotten a full scholarship so during that time I went with her quite often to school and stayed with her at Hershey Hall with her and met a lot of her friends. And it was my dream to go to UCLA.

SY: So then what was your family's reaction to all of this when they heard? Did they have to pack? Did you remember the period of packing up and what kinds of things did they have to do?

MK: Their first reaction was burn everything that's Japanese I remember because all the people around there, they were taking things and if it was made in Japan you got rid of it at that time.

SY: I see. So how did they decide to... what did they decide about the family? I mean, they made a decision about splitting up the family. Were they thinking about Dorothy? What were they doing with...

MK: Well, we figured that Dorothy was safe, she was in the hospital and the Lanphears assured that the higher ups had said, oh no don't worry she'll be fine. This was before we knew about the executive order but then after that when they were told that they had to go to camp my sister and I were able to go to... there was a small window there where we could leave California and so I had an uncle, my mother's youngest brother who had a business in New York City, and he said (he would) sponsor two of us to come out there. So my sister Aki and I were told by my dad that we really should go (...) because Sachi has such a good job, they wouldn't touch the family. So that's when Aki and I left, that was in March of 1942.

SY: So that must have been odd for your mother to decide which two children because you had younger --

MK: Well, it was my dad's decision, that one I know.

SY: And you were how old? And how old was Aki?

MK: I had just turned seventeen and Aki was two years older than I was.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.