<Begin Segment 11>

TI: As the war went on, what were the conditions, living conditions in Japan or in Okayama? Was it, like, hard to get food?

PF: Oh, yeah, no food. We didn't eat white rice, we get the rice like this, but there's beans or dried beans, anything you could mix inside, you don't know what it is. And then the man who serve us, he'd go, just threw the dish like that, and my girlfriend can't catch it, so I'm there catching their food and then giving it to them. And then I had to sit down and eat fast so I could finish with everybody, and then everybody have to sit down and everybody eat, then we say a Japanese word, you get to get your chopstick and say thank you. Then we all eat, and then when we finished, we had to wait for everybody to finish, and then we'd stand up and go. But we cannot walk. They let you run to the work, run to the bathroom, and you cannot talk to guys. It was strict like army.

TI: And this was at the factory?

PF: Factory, yeah. They were strict. And we worked sometimes all night, sometimes to midnight, all like that. And then I wasn't absent at all. And they, yeah, they treat you like you're army. Because my girlfriend would walk into the bathroom, she got... and then I said, "You can't do nothing walking. You have to run to the, go get your things, and then you can't say, "You stole my tool." I can't say that; that don't work. And you have to guard your tool and work every day. I said, "You know, everybody have to talk to yourself. You can't talk to people. It's not a party, you know."

TI: So just work, work, work.

PF: Work, work, work. But thank god I was healthy. And then when they bomb it, you can't run with one plane. If there were lots of them, then we'd go hide in the hole.

TI: And so they had like different air sirens for maybe one plane versus lots of planes?

PF: No, one, two, three, they got sirens.

TI: So what was the difference between one, two, three?

PF: The third you hide.

TI: I see.

PF: You don't hide with the first one, they're coming. The first one is coming, and you could see the airplane like this, small. And then they could come down and they shoot you, and then they go up.

TI: And so did you see the planes?

PF: Oh, yeah, you could see.

TI: These were American planes?

PF: You could see the person, oh, yeah. And then that's the funny thing, though, we all didn't cry, we all worked, and then nobody was shaking like this, can't move. No, everybody's working.

TI: Now did any of the workers ever get killed?

PF: No, no, not our group. Some of the other ones did, yeah. Because, oh, yeah, it's a big hole with a bomb... and then you could see it coming down. But I don't know, I wasn't scared or nothing. But you tell me now, I wouldn't work. You tell me to go there and do that, I won't do it. But oh, everybody worked, and nobody's crying, no.

TI: What did your factory make?

PF: Airplanes, that Mitsubishi B-2.

TI: Okay, so like different parts for the airplane?

PF: Yeah, it was like this wing, and there's another wing on the side, like this, so I adjust that pipe, so there's like this kind of pipe, like that kind of pipe, skinny pipe, they're all long, short, like that. I lined them up, and then this guy put it in. And then at the wing, there's a hole like this, you stick your hand in, and it rub here, but you can't see the pin. See, you have to open the pin, your pin like that and open it. But you can't see it with that hole like this. You do that.

TI: And you said there were both boys and girls working at the factory?

PF: Yeah, yeah, we worked together.

TI: So these were like, kind of students, or just graduated students?

PF: High school kids come, and then like we're volunteer, volunteer work. And there's a couple of men there helping us.

TI: Is this still in Okayama?

PF: Okayama, yeah, right in Okayama.

TI: Now did you still see your aunt very much during this time, or did you live at the factory?

PF: I live at the factory, that's why I didn't live with them no more. Yeah, I live with the factory, and then my sister was working on the side. But she worked for the big shot people, clean their room, clean, like a waitress, she cleaned everything like, and she wanted me to go there. And said, "Uh-uh, I don't want to work with them, and I want to be in the factory side." And she wanted me to come there. She said, "You could sleep eight hours, you could eat good food. I said, "Uh-uh, I don't want that."

TI: Now, why? Why didn't you want that?

PF: I didn't want that.

TI: 'Cause the food was better, the conditions were...

PF: Were good, everything good, but no, no. And then they could sleep eight hours, no, I didn't want that.

TI: Why?

PF: Huh?

TI: Why?

PF: Because I want to work with people.

TI: Oh, so your friends, your friends were there?

PF: Yeah, friend, my friend and like that, and work for those big shot people? No, you don't want to answer the phone and fix their bed and take care of them? No, way. I said I won't do that. My sister wanted me to come there, and I could sleep and I could do... I said, "Uh-uh, I don't want to do that." I don't want to be with you guys. The guy, he tells me, "You know, right here could sleep eight hour and you could rest." No, no, I said, "No thank you. I don't want to be with you guys."

TI: Now when you were working at the factory, did anyone there know that you were American?

PF: Yeah, they knew.

TI: And so would that cause any problems?

PF: No, no. They didn't bother me.

TI: Now did anyone ever ask you, because you could speak English, to ever use English, like for interpreting or anything like that?

PF: No, no.

TI: So that never happened?

PF: No, no. I won't... I said no. I won't do it. And that's why I told my brother, "Don't volunteer." I said, "They could draft you, but don't volunteer. Because he's the age.

TI: And so what happened to your brother? Did he have to go into the military?

PF: Yeah, but he didn't volunteer. He went, they call him. But he was just working in a, like a store thing like that. He didn't have to work.

TI: Now, did they, so the Japanese didn't use his English abilities?

PF: No, no.

TI: Because he could speak both...

PF: No, he didn't want to. I said, "Don't do that." Yeah, I don't know why. I was the youngest, but that's what I told my sister and them, "Don't do volunteering." Because we had to work. If you don't work, you can't eat, so we have to work. So that, I said okay, but don't volunteer. Because we're from America, we can't. I don't know what told me that, but that's it.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.