<Begin Segment 13>

TI: So Peggy, I'm going to go back to right at the end of the war, so after the atomic bomb, Japan surrendered. And I'm curious what the Japanese thought, or what did they expect from the Americans? So when the war ended and the Americans were going to come to Japan, what did they think? What did they think about Americans?

PF: Well, my girlfriend was saying that first thing they were kind of scared, huh? But it turned out to be nice, American people all helped them and everything, gave them this and that. So they were surprised with that.

TI: So when they said, when your girlfriend said that she was scared, what was she scared of?

PF: Because they're tall, blue-eye, and like that, they're not big. But they were kind of scared. But they didn't know the colored people was born dark. And I said, "Don't go around with them, they're that color." Said, "Oh." See, Japan people don't know that. And I said, "But they're nice people, but it's just they're black." But when they're born, they're kind of light color, huh? But then as they grow up, they get dark. And lots of girls got... I thought, gee, after they lost the war, I guess people get like that because no food, and then they would be friend with the American people, you'd get food. Then the girls, it was terrible to see.

TI: So many of, some of the girls started going out with Americans?

PF: Yeah. And then the way they chew the gum like that, I didn't like that. And I thought, gee, that's how the war made people turn upside down. Then Japan didn't go the way they should go. It was sad, but that's what happened. I guess so. When you're hungry, you do everything.

TI: And how hungry were people? How bad did it get?

PF: No food, rice and like that, there wasn't any, yeah. But I wasn't skinny. [Laughs] I told my father I wasn't skinny. Because we boil the fish, I catch the fish, and my father said, "How you catch it?" I said, they swim like that, boy, when you're hungry you catch that thing, you know. You have to. And then boil the glass. We survived, and I said, "No, you have to stay healthy." Yeah, but it was kind of like sad to see the girls like that, but that's how the war made it. Everything they don't have.

TI: And how would the girls meet the Americans? Were there like special places to meet?

PF: Yeah, they go to the bar and they stand by the tree or something like that and they see them, or they worked for the army people and they'd get friendly. I know lots of people that got married in there. But I told my father, "I'm not gonna get married, uh-uh." And I don't have family, and I don't want to walk around like that, no. That's why my auntie put me way in the country, work in the factory, material factory, Kanebo, they put me there because I could talk English, to work with the army. And then I could make good money, huh? But no, I had to work in the factory, she put me in the factory.

TI: So she wanted to keep you away from the Americans?

PF: Yeah, yeah. Keep me away. And then I said, "I could sneak out and go out." But I said, "No, I can't marry." Sure I could marry American people and come back to America quick, but no, I better wait until my father sent me. And then he did that way.

TI: So talk about how you communicated with your family. You said before the war, you had letters that went back and forth. Then during the war, did you ever have letters...

PF: No, no, no letter, no letter. Then after the war, we started to get letter, yeah.

TI: And then so after the war, what did you father day in a letter?

PF: Oh, he says, "Just stay healthy and work hard and then I'll pick you up and get you home."

TI: Now in his letters, did he ever talk about what happened?

PF: No, no, nothing. Nothing, nothing. Because they opened the letter and you can't say nothing. You don't know what they're gonna read, so you just have to say you're healthy and you're there working, that's all.

TI: But that would be during the war, right? After the war he could say anything.

PF: No, during the war we didn't get no letter.

TI: But after the war they opened it also?

PF: Yeah, yeah, the top, they opened it. U.S. mail, they opened it.

TI: Now why... this is after the war, right? Why would they do that after the war?

PF: I don't know. The wartime we didn't get nothing, no letter. No letter, see if they're healthy or not. We didn't get no letter.

TI: Now after the war, did you ever see or meet Japanese Americans who were there during the occupation?

PF: No, no. We didn't meet nobody. We didn't meet nobody. After the war, my girlfriend came and see me, that I'm going home and she's gonna come later. And she did after.

TI: But for you, so you never worked during the occupation with Americans?

PF: No, no.

TI: So you worked in this other factory?

PF: Yeah, I worked in that.

TI: How about your sister? Did she do the same thing?

PF: No, she worked for the army. And my brother worked for the army.

TI: And what did your sister do for the army?

PF: I don't know what she did. She was [inaudible] she does home cleanup or nothing like that. 'Cause she didn't work in an office, no.

TI: And then your brother, what kind of work did he do?

PF: Yeah, he was inside... I think he was working in a snack shop at the store or something like that, yeah. They don't talk about it. We didn't talk about it too much. We didn't correspond like that, letter, no. He didn't write to me and I didn't write to him. But my sister told me, "I'm coming home," that's all. But we didn't talk to each other, letter like that, we didn't... wartime, and that time we were there in Japan, we didn't we, each was on their own, kind of like, yeah.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.