<Begin Segment 21>

MN: Now, soon after Pearl Harbor your parents moved with friends into Downey. Why did they do that?

TY: Well, at first when the war started they asked the, they asked the aliens, they asked the aliens to move out of the vital strategic area, as I remember, at least fourteen miles inland. So then that's why all the Issei folks had to move at least fifteen miles, fourteen, fifteen miles inland, so that is the reason why, my folks had friends in Downey, so that's the reason why they moved to their friends' place.

MN: Was it only your parents? What about you kids? You're American citizens, did you move to Downey also?

TY: No, we didn't have to move. Citizens were okay, so we stayed there until, I should ask, I should say, some crew came down pounding signs on telephone poles. So I said what the heck do they know, they're pounding signs on telephone poles? So we went to see and it was Executive Order 9066. What's that? So we read what it said, oh no, you got to be kidding. So we told our hakujin friends that we had to go. We're American citizens, we have to go. Why? "You guys are American citizens. Come stay with me. You guys don't have to go." So our hakujin friends invited us to go live with them for the duration, whether it takes one year or five years or whatever, and so we could do that, but I guess we shouldn't do it, so we just ordered the, we just obeyed the order. That's why we...

MN: Now, before the order was placed on the telephone poles, and before Executive Order 9066, there was a curfew that was put into place.

TY: Yeah.

MN: Did you obey the curfew, or did you go out?

TY: No, why should we obey the curfew? We decided we're American citizens so we don't have to obey the curfew. So anyway, we decided that, no, we all had to carry a birth certificate to prove ourself, I guess it was, so we carried our birth certificate in our hip pocket and we went out every night just for the hell of it. And so I thought, well, if we go out and come back home curfew shouldn't affect us because we're American citizens. That's what we done. When we went out of our area nobody say anything and we come back home, well then MP will stop us. "Hey, you guys, where're you guys going?" "Going home." "You can't go beyond this curfew line." So, "Yes, we can. We live over there." "No, you can't go. What proof you got to go there?" So we just pulled out our birth certificates. "Okay." They used to let us go. "Okay, okay. You live over there? Go ahead." That's what we used to do every night, just, just for the orneriness, you know? [Laughs]

MN: So they never jailed you for that?

TY: No. No.

MN: So was it the same MP that stopped you every night?

TY: No, they had different people, military police, MP.

MN: Just for the orneriness you went out.

TY: Yeah.

MN: Where did you guys go?

TY: Just to go drink a malt, have hot dog, just movie, whatever. "Let's go to the movies tonight." "Got curfew, can't come home." "Oh, we'll get home." As long as we got the birth certificate we would come home, so that's what we done.

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.