<Begin Segment 7>

SY: So going back to that, that time during high school, this, I assume this principal called you in after Pearl Harbor, right? It was after Pearl Harbor that he called you in and said you aren't getting a diploma?

HS: Yeah, Pearl Harbor...

SY: Do you remember Pearl, what happened when...

HS: December, yeah. That happened on a Sunday, and Monday when we went to school, everything was so quiet. Nobody said a word, never got called a Jap by anybody. People, all my students that, in my classes and everything, they just were very quiet Monday morning.

SY: Teachers never said anything either?

HS: No.

SY: Do you remember where you were when you heard about Pearl Harbor, the Sunday before?

HS: I think I was just home listening to the radio.

SY: So your parents, do you remember your, the reaction of your family?

HS: Yeah. Well, my dad, he thought Japan was invincible. And he said, "Oh, America..." But he thought Japan was invincible. You know how Japanese, that old samurai spirit. [Laughs]

SY: Being from Kagoshima.

HS: Yeah. [Laughs]

SY: And your, your mother, do you remember her reaction?

HS: Well, she, very quiet person. She's just like my wife, very quiet and very sweet. [Laughs]

SY: And you remember how you felt?

HS: Well really, I don't think the enormity really hit me, 'cause we didn't know anything about politics, government or anything. We just tended to school, and that was it.

SY: So when did it finally hit you, that this was happening?

HS: The worst time was when we were told we had to go to camp.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.