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TI: And going back to Frank, so how did you see Frank's writing? Where did that show up?

JO: Ah, that was interesting. When I was in... I went to Wyoming to visit Heart Mountain, I looked at the archives, not just of the camp, but of the historian... I'm going to go blank on the name again. A young historian who was... he's written three books, and he had a collection of letters that he gathered while he was doing his research, and I'll have to find the name of that person. (Narr. note: It was Mike Mackey. It was his gem of a letter from Frank Hayami that gave texture and tone to the story.) And he shared those stories with me, and in fact, he gave me permission to make copies of all of those letters, and all of those letters were like oral histories, written histories of my past by people who volunteered to give him that material. And among those letters was this amazing letter from Frank Hayami. And the letter, the letter begins with words that I really hope would be used in the film, and unfortunately, that part of it didn't get in, there wasn't room. But Frank says that his father gave all of the children two names, an American name, because he wanted them to be all-American. And he gave them a Japanese name because he feared that they might one day need to have it, because they might need to go back to Japan. And it was evident at that time, when Frank and his sister Sach went to Berkeley in 1941, Frank was about to graduate with an engineering degree Sach was just starting hers. Her name was Grace, but she was always called by her Japanese nickname. And Stanley sends them a letter, which we didn't have until -- I'm getting this a little ahead of time -- we didn't have when I was writing the book, that letter was found later, in which Stanley writes that he's sending her two hundred and fifty dollars from Pop, and Frank had gotten the same two hundred and fifty dollars because they feared in November that their funds might be frozen. Because the United States was taking action on trade, and they figured that this was going to happen. And that way they would have money to... and the family would have money if they needed it, and in fact their funds were frozen. There was also a letter (that was written) the day after Pearl Harbor saying, "Please come home."

TI: And this was a letter from who?

JO: This was a letter from Stanley to his sister to please come home, that it won't be much of a Christmas here. And it's a very brief letter, (...) but Stanley also writes in his diary about the day that the war began and how they heard the news on the radio, and how their aunt, who lived in L.A., whose husband was a Packard dealer, I believe, a big successful car dealer, had been taken away, and this was his father's sister, and how she needed the family to come and be with them. And so they moved to L.A., and that's why they were sent to Heart Mountain. They lived in San Gabriel -- Gabriel, I think was in California -- it's funny how you say words that you read, and when you say them out loud... [Laughs]

TI: And then people correct you, like, "We don't say that"?

JO: Of course, right.

TI: We have that problem in, especially in Seattle.

JO: So they moved there, and they left their business, and they rented it to a garden center across the road, and it got pennies on the dollar, but their property was held, they rented their property. And the family ultimately was able to move back, so like Ellen Yukawa's family, they were among the fortunate few families that were able to return to their own property. It was not in very good condition (...).

TI: So all of this sounds like you did a lot of research into the family, lots of information.

JO: Well, yes, and then the only way I could get the information about what was going on when Stanley was in the army, I didn't know about... there were letters to his father and mother and brother, the family wrote, in addition to writing the diary, and those letters I was privy to. Those were letters from Europe, they were from basic training, but they were few and far between, and they were written to parents. And those letters are protective of his parents; he doesn't worry about them as much. He requests things as a kid would, he was eighteen when he was drafted. And incidentally, Stanley's cousin -- I'm going to go blank on the name again -- Stanley's cousin (Paul Nakadate) was one of the leaders of the resisters.

TI: At Heart Mountain?

JO: That's correct. And he writes in the diary that he understands their point of view. But he thinks that when Uncle Sam calls, he will go.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2013 Densho. All Rights Reserved.