<Begin Segment 9>
TI: You know, earlier you mentioned that you were a member of the JACL. After Pearl Harbor, did anything happen at the JACL? Did anything change there?
JH: Yes. The, again, this president, Shigio Masunaga -- well, as a matter of fact, the board of directors authorized Shigio Masunaga to open an information center in this, in the Issei Memorial Building. And they hired an executive secretary, paid Dan Izu, and a paid clerk, typist... what the heck's her name? Kawakami, Aiko. Aiko, her married name is Jio. And one day, like I say, new car, joyriding, come home, and I see Shig's car, Lincoln, Lincoln Continental. Oh man. So I went in the house and I said, "Hi, Shig." And before he could answer my dad says, "Mr. Masunaga wants you to staff the JACL office, and I want you to go." Well, the pop is the boss. I'm counting the money, but he's the boss. And Shig kind of grins and he says, "You know, John, all I can afford to pay you is a dollar a day and all you can eat." I said, "That's fine, all I can eat." [Laughs] So we had finished harvesting celery already and we knew there was a war, but our destiny was unknown so we don't plan any crop management.
TI: So what was your job, though, at the JACL? What did he want you to do?
JH: I'm the guy that got the job of answering questions. See, the executive secretary and the president once a week would go to San Francisco, Western Defense Command -- "What's the latest? What's the latest?" -- then come back and he informs us. And when the community comes and asks, I tell them what had transpired, which is alright. Dollar a day and all I can eat. [Laughs] The only thing is, why I don't know, we're under the scrutiny of the community. "Those guys are buttering up the Western Defense Command and when this is over they'll put them up in a fancy hotel and live like kings." They said to me right in my face. I says, "No. If you don't believe me, go ask the president." Well the president, he, after he finished his meeting in San Francisco, he goes home and runs his farm, whatever he has to do. And the executive secretary is, what do you call 'em, those people looking for jobs?
TI: Like unemployed? Or what do you mean looking for jobs?
JH: Well, say a student just out of school, he's looking for, in other words, they don't know what Pearl Harbor's all about, they're just lookin' for a job. So that was his primary --
TI: So the community thought that you were getting, you might get special favors, is what they were saying?
JH: Yeah. In other words, they think we're lying so that in the end we get good treatment and everybody else has to suffer the consequences.
TI: You know, when the president, Masunaga, came back from the military people, what was his mood? Were there times when he'd come back really concerned?
JH: No. He was all smiles, because whatever they said was the truth, not what's in the paper or anything. You got it from the horse's mouth. Well, what's wrong with that?
TI: So what were they telling him? What was the truth that he was hearing?
JH: As it transpired, number one, alien registration number. So we got part of the load in that we have to translate or escort them to the federal building or whatever, but the main thing was to tell the family that you have to go to get an alien registration number. I don't know whether it was January... it couldn't, no, it's got to be January. Then the next ultimatum was the so-called pink book, where you were born... not why you born, where you born, when you came to United States, on what ship, and fingerprint and everything. That, again, was taken care of by the federal office, but we had to help get the thing altogether, especially when they say, "Munakata-gun." "Huh?" [Laughs] So that was, the other thing was tetanus shots. I don't know where they got the serum, but there was an older Nisei doctor from the East Bay. I forget what her name was. She must've been in her fifties already, and single. [Laughs] And she came and once a week gave everybody a shot in the arm for free. Everybody did things for free in those days. And February, March, income tax, income tax. And some families sold their crops to a hakujin, or a Caucasian, and they, we told them to go to the Farm Security Administration so there'll be no legal hang up. So there was a legal, federal, so no problem there, got that all straightened out. And for some reason everybody came in the morning or after supper, because they were working or whatever, I don't know, but in the afternoon things got kind of quiet. And the future Judge Kanemoto drove in one day and he says, "What're you guys doing?" "Income tax for today, so we're kind of slow." "Tell you what," he says, "Let's play poker." [Laughs] So he, everybody gets nickels and dimes and pennies, playin' poker. And then Norm Mineta that lived right next door, he comes in, changed clothes after school, and he comes and looks -- I guess he was eleven or twelve. And George Fujii, he was visiting I guess -- bless his soul, he's not here anymore -- but he says, "Norm, you shouldn't see big guys playing with money." And Norm gets upset. He said, "I don't want to see your lousy game anyway," and he huffed off. That was one of the highlights. You know, now he's a wheel, he and Judge --
TI: Yeah, but he was, but he lived right next door to the Issei Memorial.
JH: Yeah, the family owned that house.
TI: Okay.
JH: And I think they still own it. Course, I don't stick my nose in it. They lived in it, the father and mother and Norm and a sister. I went to school with her. What the heck is her name? That's not important, but anyway, as soon as they came back out of camp they were living there.
<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.