<Begin Segment 10>

SY: And so when you ended up having to go to camp, that must have been very difficult for your parents.

NS: Oh, yes, yes. It was real... my father and my mother crying, "Mou, ii desho." And she was gonna separate us, "They're gonna separate us," that's why.

SY: That's what she thought was going to happen because there were so many of you. So do you remember exactly, from the time that Pearl Harbor happened, were they worried then?

NS: Yes, oh, yes. My father was, right away he said, "Oh, they're going to do something to us because we're Japanese." Right away when the newspaper, all these American people want "Jap" to be out of... I remember that, too, you know. Every time I got on the bus, said, "Hey you, Jap, what are you doing? Get out of this country." When you talk like that, all these years you're going school together with American kids, and all of a sudden the war started, they're mean to us. They were so mean.

SY: So it was it usually people that you didn't know?

NS: No, students. My classmates. Oh, yeah.

SY: So when you first went back to school, 'cause it happened on a Sunday...

NS: Well, this kid named -- I still remember his name, Charles. I used to fight with him. And I was tough because I had six brothers, don't forget, and they all took judo. And so I was with them to do the judo all the time, so I just really gave it to him one time and oh, the teacher got mad.

SY: You actually physically fought with him?

NS: Oh, yeah, because he was so bad. And so after that he stopped teasing me.

SY: And was he worse when the war broke out?

NS: Yes, that's when he started calling me "Jap," see, that's why.

SY: And there were other people? Like how were you treated by other...

NS: Well, on the bus going to Chicago, this American guy saying, "What are you doing, Jap?" like that. But I didn't pay attention because my brother said, "Don't talk to them. Just don't say anything. So then I didn't say anything and they stopped saying anything.

SY: And how did the teachers treat you when you went back to school?

NS: They were nice. They were very sad. We had, the science teacher was real good friends with my brother, he used to come over to my house and I used to feed him food. He used to like Japanese food. So they were sad; they were really sad. Mr. Crane was his name.

SY: So your oldest brother was how many years older than you?

NS: Well, they're all two and a half year apart, see, and so...

SY: Five, seven... seven years old?

NS: Uh-huh, about seven or eight years older.

SY: So was he just working on the farm?

NS: My brother? No, he had a job in school, because he was already getting good grade, and teacher made him do some work in the school. So he had a little job, and then later on, he had a weekend job working at... I think he was doing work in a store or something, I don't remember that well. I know my second brother was working in the store, grocery store.

SY: So your older brothers and sisters, were they all going to school and working, or just working?

NS: Yes. No, they all had to work on the farm, so they were helpers in the farm for a while. 'Cause they didn't give you jobs at all for a while, and being Japanese, they said you can't work anymore and so they let them go. And then just before the camp, they start hiring again because they needed helper, 'cause we were cheap, don't forget. And then we work hard. They wanted workers like my brother.

SY: And none of them were going to school.

NS: At that time? At that time, no. Yeah, they were working.

SY: And what were you doing? Where were you when the war broke out?

NS: Oh, I was still going school. I just graduated high school. And then I wanted to go to junior college, I started, but then my father said no, not to go out of the house. We couldn't go out of the house.

SY: So you had graduated from high school...

NS: Yes, yes.

SY: And it was summer vacation? And then you were going back to your farm?

NS: Uh-huh. And my father was happy 'cause we didn't go to school and help in the farm. But then we had to quit because we got a notice from the government that we all have to go to camp.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.