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AH: Okay, so the newspaper has to carry on, and Tetsuko is the nominal publisher. But you're old enough and you're bright enough, etcetera, but you're also very busy with taking this horrendously hard science major and everything, trying to squeeze in some education courses and stuff. But did you ever write any articles for the newspaper, for the English? Because they started an English language section in 1941.

SH: No, no. My sister and I both knew these fellows who had the DX Radio Shop, and it was just around the corner. And they came in, I think around the time of the war, maybe one year before the war. And Harry and his brother Chuckie had this shop where they would fix radios, and I don't think they had televisions in those days. Anyway, it was called the DX Radio Shop.

AH: Is the Matsunagas?

SH: Yes, uh-huh. And they were both very, very friendly guys, and here was somebody we could speak to in English and kind of laugh and joke around, so we would stop in there. But my sister more often than I did. I would stop in with her sometimes, so I got to know Harry, too, and Chuckie. And so she got to know Harry and she thought that he was really a nice person. Then he found out that we had the newspaper, and I think that he became interested in the newspaper, and since he was very friendly, he came to talk to my dad. And I think he said to him that it would be a good thing to start a newspaper with an English section in it. So I remember my father talking to him, and then they decided to take a chance on it and see how it worked. So that's when Harry started writing for the newspaper, and he was the one who completely did all the paperwork for him.

AH: I think that was kind of a smart move, because they got the English section before the Colorado Times did, and they built this subscription based out of these Nisei networks, and they could actually read it.

SH: In the camps, yes.

AH: In the camps and stuff.

SH: And so the numbers grew. It was just a wonderful time for us.

AH: And did you remember the English-language section at all?

SH: Not much. I didn't read it; I didn't have time for things like that. All I remember is working in the newspaper and taking, sending out billing or working in the office and doing whatever I could in the office. I could type real well, so I did typing in the office and billing and things like that with subscriptions, completely. And then when the paper came out, we also had to go and help to wrap up the papers and send them out.

AH: In late January of 1944, you get a new English-language editor and publicity director for the paper, Jimmie Omura. And of course Jimmie Omura is very heavily identified now with the Rocky Shimpo, and the editorials that he wrote in there has really had a big impact that Frank has captured very well in his film Conscience and the Constitution and everything, the relationship with the Fair Play Committee, it's a major topic in Japanese American history. Now, Jimmie Omura, you're one of the last people that can talk about actually having met him. And whether your memories are shadowy or whatever, we want to have 'em. So what do you recall about Jimmie?

SH: It's very strange. I should know more about him because he was working there, but the offices were in one part, and then the people who wrote were in the other building and they were upstairs writing and all. And I don't remember him very well except that he was, just loved to talk, and he would talk and talk and talk. And so I would kind of listen to what he was talking about, but I didn't really know what he believed in or how he was. It was very interesting in that I don't have much of a recollection except that he was a real talker.

AH: What about his conjecture that one of the reasons that he was acceptable to take this position was because he was known for being anti-JACL, and your family had a strong suspicion that the JACL was behind him being, your father being picked up?

SH: Yes, and we did. We really felt that way. Because we felt that at that time, there were things that were, I don't know what it was. It was just the general feeling that the JACL was against our newspaper, and that they were the ones who were kind of like the people who plotted against us to have him taken. Otherwise, we didn't know what reason there was for my dad to be taken.

AH: It was probably silly for me to ask you this question, but were either you or Tetsuko in the JACL?

SH: No, never. [Laughs]

FA: Why would you think the JACL would be against your newspaper?

SH: It was just the general atmosphere. In fact, I think that even at the time when... maybe when Harry was putting out the newspaper, that something came out, and it seemed like the JACL wrote something about whatever he said, I don't know. Anyway, there were just, it was just a very strong feeling that the members of the JACL were against our newspaper and our family.

FA: What was your opinion or your view or your awareness of the JACL?

SH: I just, I don't remember well. I never attended their meetings, I just knew that they were sort of the leaders in the community. It's a strange thing about how one builds up these feelings, but I guess that it's just through... I have a feeling that maybe many Buddhists were against the JACL, too. I think that many Buddhists might have been against the JACL. They were not thought to be people who were interested in the Japanese Americans first as far as we were concerned, that it was a group that was sort of maybe anti-Buddhist, I don't know.

FA: I mean, they were the Japanese American Citizens League, and you thought they were not interested in Japanese Americans first?

SH: Well, I would think so. And maybe that's one of the reasons I didn't feel good about them, because I didn't think they were really working for the Japanese Americans, but that it was everything... like I had heard that they were not even against the evacuation, and things like that. And so I guess that's where I got the feeling about it, that I thought the evacuation was wrong, and it was so wrong, and yet the JACL didn't have any, they didn't take a stand against it. And I felt that it was wrong to put people into camps like that. The JACL didn't seem to think so, and that sort of thing I think made us feel that the JACL is against the Japanese Americans.

FA: In Jimmie Omura's many talks with you, did you ever about the JACL?

SH: I don't remember that we did. We could have talked sort of casually about it... I have a feeling that we could have talked, but he was very, very busy.

FA: What did he talk about in any talks that you remember? What did Jimmie talk about? The weather, sports, finances, girls?

SH: Oh, he asked me how I was doing in school and things like that, but I think it was more... I have a feeling that he may have talked about JACL. Yes, I think you're right, because Jimmie was really different. He was very, he would say what he felt, and I thought it was one of the most interesting people that were... because the Nisei don't usually talk out like that. That's what I felt, and he expressed himself. I think that maybe he was very much against the JACL, too. And I don't remember exactly what he said, but I have feelings that there were real anti-JACL feelings with him.

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