<Begin Segment 16>

AI: So during the war, you were developing your pacifist ideas.

AK: Yes, definitely. And then my father had talked about Kanagawa, who was a Japanese pacifist, religious man, real strong Japanese pacifist. So pacifism was constantly being, kind of discussed, and I was exposed to it through different areas. And I was just very fortunate because I got so many good friends in that movement.

AI: And now you work with Floyd Schmoe so closely.

[Interruption]

AI: Yesterday we left off, we were just about to talk about Floyd Schmoe, and also I wanted to go back and ask you to start a little closer to the beginning of when you were really getting serious about the pacifist principles and values. And I think you said that really happened during World War II. You were in camp and at the same time you were in camp, that's when you met Floyd. Can you tell me a little bit about that time and when you first were thinking about those values?

AK: Okay. I was, you know, thinking of peace and the alternatives to war, to fighting. And so I did a lot of reading and my father would tell me about Kanagawa, who was a Japanese pacifist. And he told me about people that had, you know, escaped conscription by coming to this country and things, which I had never known about. We just thought about Isseis coming here to make a living, and mainly to do farm work or whatever. And it really interested me because all I could -- all I knew of Japan also was the kind of furor that went on about the patriotism to Japan. And people were singing those military songs and the Isseis were right into it, you know.

AI: So your father really showed you this other part of Japanese culture, which included pacifists and some of the Issei who came to the U.S., too, so they wouldn't be conscripted into the Japanese army.

AK: Right. And that was very interesting for me. Also, I think there was a part of the rebel in me, that, I thought, "Hmm, I like this when people can speak up and oppose something." Almost to the point where I thought, "Hey, it's pretty fashionable to be able to..." [Laughs] So that I'm not sure I was that clearly, you know, what would you say... it wasn't perhaps an idealism that was that honorable. [Laughs] I think there were more, other aspects to it. I thought, "Hey, this is a cool thing to do," you know, that kind of... also, it just seemed right to me. That I loved nature, and my folks loved nature and they loved the outdoors. They loved the beauty of the garden, they loved to go to the mountains. It was just that there is so much beauty and peace around us that I couldn't see the point of destroying things. Also my folks from the time we were little, always taught us about the goodness of people. And I remember -- I lived on 18th, on Main Street at that time, so I must have been five or six years old -- and this young man who was one of my brother's friends came and stole a pen from my house. And it was a Waterman pen, and at that time I guess it was a pretty nice pen. And there was a little bit of discussion about it, and my mother discovered who had stolen it. And they didn't go at it in a real accusatory way, but then she made it very easy for this young man to bring the pen back. And my mother praised him and thanked him for being honest to bring it back. And I was very impressed, because they didn't go around saying, "'So and so' stole the pen from us." And it made me feel very proud of my parents. And they were always looking for the goodness in people and animals, whatever it -- my dad was a great one to bring home stray dogs to our house, and stray people.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.