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TI: And so the first question is, Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Do you remember where you were when you heard?

EY: Oh, yes, I distinctly remember. We had, the previous day, we had, I picked up some oyster seed that was prepared out in Hood Canal. And so we had those oyster seed brought over, and we had the seed on the barge, but the set on the shells were so heavy that we felt that it had to be broken up. And so with my father's idea, you know, like a paper cutter, you have it hinged, and you have a long part, and the blade on there. [Clears throat] Excuse me. And so we decided to cut it up, because if it's too crowded, why, then they don't grow well. So we were putting it and cutting it. And it took us quite a long time. So it was getting dark when we got into shore, and went up to where my mother had a small restaurant. And when we went up there, we were told about the start of the war. And we just didn't know what to do, but we just, at that point, we decided there wasn't anything we can do. So we decided, well, we'd just call it a day, and we relaxed. Well...

TI: Eiichi? So did your father say anything? Did you remember him, like a reaction, or was he surprised?

EY: No, my father really, he was out there with us, you know, on the barge. And so it was kind of a surprise to him, too. And we had, I think, one or two employees around, but he was attending to the small oyster stand that we had where we would service the customer that came around to buy some oysters in the shell or in the jars. And he, too, was surprised because it was his customers that came around and told him about the happening of the war. And so... well, for that night, why, we just closed the shop and worried about things that we might have to do, because we didn't know what we were going to do. But... so we retired for the night. The next day, I think it was the next day, there was a Caucasian old man and an old woman that came around, and he said, "I've come to see Mr. Yamashita." So we took him and her to my father, and they had the opportunity to talk. It appears that the man and the woman was a team of FBI agents. And he said, "Mr. Yamashita, we've been looking for you high and low for quite a while." But maybe it was the next day that...

TI: Yeah, I think when you told me the story earlier, there was, like weeks after Pearl Harbor that they came.

EY: Maybe.

TI: Yeah, so I think they were looking for him ever since Pearl Harbor, and it was like a couple months or several months they had looked for him. That right away there was nothing from the FBI until later.

EY: And so he said, I guess he talked to my father and wanted to look at some documents, but he didn't have anything. He didn't have anything, because all his documents were either at Pier 9 or at the Smith Tower where he shared an office with Thomas Matsuda. My father helped Tom with Japanese correspondence, and so Tom helped my father with legal matters, and it was a good combination of helping each other. But surprisingly, Tom was arrested by the FBI even before my father. And so my father wasn't able to talk to him to make any kind of decision, and it created kind of a hardship for him.

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