<Begin Segment 14>

TI: And before we go to Poston, I just remembered something. After Pearl Harbor and before Poston, the family buried things in El Centro.

JK: Yeah.

TI: Can you tell me about that?

JK: Oh yeah. There was, it was coming in the grapevine. The order was if you were an illegal alien, one, you had to register, and then two, you had to turn in all your guns, radios and cameras. And so obviously, the Isseis are not dummies, and they said, "Well, if we turn in these guns, cameras and radios, that means we've been doing espionage. Hell with that. We're gonna go bury the damn things or destroy 'em." So my uncle -- remember my uncle and my dad are good buddies, right? -- so my uncle's got a farm out in Holtville, he digs a hole, and then my dad gets his, in our case, we had, I have a full inventory of this stuff, don't ask me how I remember this, but my dad had a pistol, we had two radios and a camera, and two kendo sets. See, you remember, they don't want anything that tied you with the Japanese culture. My uncle had guns, I think he had one camera, 'cause he's a farmer and he used to go hunting for pheasants and dove, and that was his food on the table. And so he, we buried it and we buried it right beside the ditch bank there of his place. And I spent the last almost nine months trying to retrace where that spot is. I found it two weeks ago.

TI: So you found the --

JK: No, I didn't find the treasure, but I found the location. I finally, I use aerial maps and I talked to some local people, and I found the, where it is, but what's happened is they filled the area about six or seven foot of dirt on it and it's now got crops on it. So I'm gonna go back down there now and try to hook up with the property owner, that if he ever changes the crop -- it's got alfalfa and stuff on it -- if it goes dormant or something, or if he'd give his permission and then if I can find a metal detector that'll go probably ten, twelve feet deep, I'm gonna try to find that stuff.

TI: Okay. Again, if you do that, let me know. I'd love to find out.

JK: No, no, I'm gonna, yeah, my hope is, is that before all my, I make the roll call, in fact, I'm gonna, I have the maps and everything and I'm leaving this with my kids. I says, "Okay, if you ever get the chance and if you want to go on an adventure, I'd like to dig it up." They say, "Well, frankly, I don't know what's there."

TI: Yeah, this is interesting. So they, this idea of this kind of buried cache that you'll get, and then also the fact that seventy years after the journey you're gonna take the journey by yourself. Why are you doing this?

JK: You know, I've seen, from time to time I've seen programs -- in fact, a year or a couple years, there was a couple of ladies that took, they played Les Brown theme song, "The Sentimental Journey," and they had reflections about camp life and all that, and I thought, you know what? I said, just for the heck of it, you know? And another thing that did propel me, you remember I mentioned to you that I had a sister named Kichan two days after we got there, and I was curious as to what, what the climate was, what was it like? And my mother had asked the authorities to please let her ride in a passenger car so she could make the journey a little bit easier, but they wouldn't, they wouldn't allow it, so of course, we lost her. But I guess it's just, it's kind of like what all, I think, old people do. Like I stay in touch with my old navy buddies, and then every time we talk to each other, whatever we talk about, "Hey, we ought to go back there." I went to the Charleston Navy Yard, I don't know, ten, fifteen years ago and stood around where I, our ship was in dry dock there. I went on a trip to the Mediterranean and I went to all these ports, and I was with my new bride and another couple, and it just so, coincidentally, where the ship, cruise ship, was going were places I had visited when I was aboard ship. But I always remember, after the third port of call, they said, "Okay, Kubota, we don't want to hear any more chatter about the bars you went to, and we're not gonna go looking for them, okay?"

TI: [Laughs] Interesting. So just, just something for you to consider, I think it would be fabulous if you actually allowed one of your grandchildren to go with you, especially one that was curious, just to ask you questions as you're driving. Because I think it's, that interchange between you and the grandchild would be pretty precious.

JK: Is that, well, that's an interesting thought because what I, my thought was that, okay, it would actually, it might be a distraction for me in terms of what I recall. But I see what you're saying, that it might actually stimulate my thoughts.

TI: Right, especially if maybe they even listened to this interview beforehand, just so they know your life and everything, and again, that interchange, I think, would be priceless for that. But anyway, that's something to think about.

JK: Yeah, it's gonna, it's coming down to a couple weeks. Well, she's back in New York.

TI: Well, after this you can get on the phone and talk.

JK: [Laughs] Okay.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.