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BN: Okay, I'm going to jump to the wartime now. Well, I guess first of all, before the war, was there, do you remember there being discussion or concern?

JK: Yes. I remember talks about the war, but the thing that's most vivid is there were representatives from the Japanese government, and representatives from the State Department talking in Washington, D.C. Therefore I could not believe that war had broken out, because they were still talking as far as I knew. And you don't... while you're negotiating, you don't go to battle usually, but that's what happened in this case, and I could not believe it.

BN: How did you hear about what happened? Did you see, did you actually see things?

JK: Okay. That was a Sunday morning, and I used to go to calligraphy class (on) Sunday mornings before going to (the) temple. The calligraphy class was on Nuuanu across from Kawananakoa school. And so it was just a short walk to the temple. And as I was walking with... I don't know who was with me, there were two of us, and this Hawaiian boy said, "Hey, war." I said, "No try fool me." And he said, "Yeah, look behind. Pearl Harbor burning." And I looked behind and I did see smoke. I said, "No, cannot be." I said, "(That's) some house on fire." But when I got to Sunday school, the kids weren't there already. There were only the choir members there, and I said, "What happened?" They said, "War." And so I went to borrow the phone and called my mom and said, "I understand there's a war, so please do not leave our living quarters. I'll be right home." I came out of that office and (one of the boys) said, "Who wants to go to Pearl Harbor to look at (the fire)?" Oh, we all jumped into his car and we went to Pearl Harbor. Did I catch it when I got home. But I did see Pearl Harbor burning. Battleship row was all black smoke, and I was so disappointed. Fire means reds and yellows, a little blue. I saw that at the River Street fire and I thought, "Oh, shucks, only black." I didn't know that oil burned black. So that's when it hit me. It really hit me as we were driving home, and we had to pass through Kalihi, and we were on King Street. Passing through Kalihi and then Palama and came to Aala, no more cars all along the way. And Aala, there's no cars. And I thought, "Oh, must be real." And that's when the fact that it was a real war hit me. I personally did not see the hinomaru, but some of the guys at the temple said they saw it. But you know, I'm in disbelief. "That cannot be, they're negotiating now." I think it's more I wish that there wouldn't be a war.

BN: So when you drove to Pearl Harbor, no one stopped you?

JK: Well, we actually drove to a peninsula in Kalihi. And I don't know how the guy knew where to go, but Battleship Row was clearly visible. But that was where in the back of us was an all fenced-in area, and leprosy patients were there. (...) From there, (they) shipped to Molokai. But we saw them there and we watched from there. But at that time, the impact of it was, I didn't think I was looking at a world-shaking event.

BN: You were how old?

JK: Sixteen.

BN: Sixteen.

JK: So I knew enough, but yet not (...) enough.

BN: So what happened? I mean, you go and you come back...

JK: Oh, I got hell. [Laughs] I've never seen my mother as angry, before that and after that. She said, "How dare you?" She had been waiting for me to come home, because I said I'd be right home. And that afternoon was spent (listening to the radio) -- very little news of anything. (...) The only things issued were police reports, so we turned to the police band, and then you hear rumors or maybe actual happenings about town. And so those were the only things that gave you an idea of what was happening. You feel, I felt kind of, really isolated. Things are happening around me and I don't know what's happening. And then that night, I don't think any of us slept. But it didn't help that one of our clerks in the store, a young man, Yoshida-san, came late in the afternoon and he said, "You don't have a man in the house." My brother is young, so he said, "I came to stay with you folks. In case of an emergency, I can help you. So then what does he do? He tells us about the funeral pyre, that he had to light the fire for his father's (body) and all this kind of stuff. Didn't help. [Laughs]

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