<Begin Segment 15>

[Translated from Japanese]

I1: Some people claim that they were pressured and forced to renounce the U.S. citizenship. They are probably not people like you but, for example, the ones who were actively advocating for the re-segregation. It's possible that the person who drafted an application for renunciation encouraged people to sign the paper. I'm not sure if anyone was forced to sign though.

TY: The youth group never forced anyone to renounce their citizenship. Renunciation was something we had against the administration...

I1: You were just posing? You weren't really going to do it?

TY: It was half and half. It would have been fine either way.

I1: You would be fine if your request is granted.

TY: Right.

I1: Were you assuming it would not be granted?

TY: We had already told them that we wanted to come back to Japan, and that we did not need to hold onto our U.S. citizenship. U.S. citizenship kept issues from getting resolved like the re-segregation issue. We just wanted to be physically and mentally Japanese by shedding what we didn't need.

I1: But you were aware that there wasn't a law to allow renunciation.

TY: We were told by a WRA that there wasn't a law. There isn't any renunciation law under the U.S. laws. [Laughs] We asked to make one if there wasn't one.

I1: Let's go back to what we talked before. Besides the Dies Committee, the FBI agents said, "We are sorry for you." The Spanish Consul told you he couldn't help you because you were U.S. citizens. Did it push you toward renunciation? Did you think you could get some help from the Japanese government by renouncing your U.S. citizenship?

TY: I didn't think that way.

I1: You didn't.

TY: Right.

[Interruption]

I1: ...[inaudible]

TY: We were still young and didn't know what would be happening in the world or how laws would affect your life. We were immature. Our situation was drawing international attention. The Japanese government requested Spain to assist us. They asked Spain to meet with us to find out what was going on. That was a big deal. We did not want to bring shame to the Japanese government. We were determined to be good Japanese citizens.

<End Segment 15> - Copyright (c) 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.