Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Ike Hatchimonji Interview
Narrator: Ike Hatchimonji
Interviewer: Martha Nakagawa
Location: Los Angeles, California
Date: November 30, 2011
Densho ID: denshovh-hike-01-0008

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MN: Now, when you heard that you had to go into a camp, what was your reaction to that?

IH: I really didn't know because... what it meant. I suppose I had some regrets because leaving my friends and our home and school and so forth. But again, I didn't really understand what the impact of it would be, of why we were being asked. I sort of treated it as an adventure, we're going to some strange place. We just went along with it.

MN: Was it like going to summer camp at Big Pines? I mean, you were still a teenager, thirteen, fourteen.

IH: Yeah.

MN: Is that what it felt like?

IH: Yeah, we really didn't understand why. We didn't know if it was because of our ancestry or because of political reasons, because of the war with Japan.

MN: Now, what did your father do with the seed business?

IH: Well, he had to dispose of his stocks. I think he put a lot of it in storage, anticipating that someday he'll come back and restart the business. But he did have to dispose with a lot of the physical parts of his business. I think the economic impact was pretty tough on him because he extended a lot of credit to farmers. In those days, he went with the farmers and he supplied 'em with all of his inputs. And then when harvesting time came, that's when he would pay off the account. Well, we all left in May, crops were ready to be harvested. They just, they had to abandon everything. So he had a lot of accounts receivables that he never got paid. I'm sure it's a common story for a lot of people.

MN: Do you recall if your parents bought new clothing to go into camp?

IH: Yeah, we did get some jackets, I believe. As I recall, we didn't know where we were going to go. I remember a couple of jackets. We've got some pictures, we're wearing new jackets.

MN: What did your parents do with the Japanese books and records, magazines?

IH: I really don't know. I don't recall having seen them burning things and disposing of them. I don't think... they didn't have photographs of the emperor in the house and all that sort of thing like a lot of families did, things that would tie them in some way to Japan.

MN: What happened to your family car?

IH: We had to sell it.

MN: What is the most cherished thing that you had to leave behind?

IH: I think it was our pet animals. We had a dog. I had to leave him with a friend. I think, to a child, that's probably one of the most...

MN: What kind of dog was it?

IH: It was a German shepherd.

MN: Did you ever see your dog again?

IH: No.

MN: Now, do you remember the exact day that you left for Pomona?

IH: Yeah, it was sometime in early May, wasn't it? We, somehow, there was an assembly point in West Covina where we boarded the buses. I don't know how we got there, but that's the way we had to go, and they used regular municipal buses to transport us from West Covina to the Pomona Assembly Center.

MN: Now the day you left your home, did any of your neighbors or friends come to see you off?

IH: I think our neighbors that we rented the house from, the Mills family.

MN: How did that make you feel to see the Mills family to see you off?

IH: Well, I don't recall, but I know my mother was in tears. It impacted her quite strongly.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.