Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Tokio Yamane Interview
Narrator: Tokio Yamane
Interviewers: Sachiko Takita-Ishii, Yoko Murakawa, Noriko Kawakami
Location: Japan
Date: May 23, 2004
Densho ID: denshovh-ytokio-01-0023

<Begin Segment 23>

[Translated from Japanese]

I1: I went to Jerome once. No buildings remain today except for a little of the filtration plant. Other than that, it is all farms. There is a monument in Rohwer but not in Jerome.

TY: It was an awful place.

I1: Is that right? I saw many trees with twisted roots there because it is a swamp.

TY: The elders went into the swamp and collected tree roots. They shined and polished them to make various tools. I remember one elderly person gave one to me. That was a walking stick.

I1: It must be solid wood.

TY: Solid. I remember now. I brought my stick to Tule Lake. I don't remember but I was told that I was holding the stick on November 1.

I1: You were? You were holding it?

TY: Yes. It is in a book written by Michener. It says that the administration officer thought that I was holding the stick to attack. It states I was a troublemaker. [Laughs] That was a beautiful stick.

I1: People held exhibitions to show their bumpy tree root artwork. The kanji character for bump is an unusual one. When the officers were narrowing down people of potential danger, they stamped "secret" right next to the character. I thought they simply could not read it. I remember Jerome had a lot of trees with twisted branches and roots. It looked like a nice place when it is peaceful, but I assume it was different during the war.

TY: They administered the "loyalty questionnaire" there.

I1: Do you think the environment had any effect on how people answered the loyalty questionnaire? Was there any mental influence depending on the place you were in? Any difference if you were in a decent environment like Minidoka, or in some place very uncomfortable?

TY: In Jerome, Mr. Kai had very strong influence. People who lived together before the war gathered there together. The same group went to Tule Lake. It was well-organized. Others weren't organized like us and were more individuals than a group. So the Kai group had the most power because it was united from the young to elders.

I2: How many were there in the group?

I1: Kai group. How many members did the Kai group have?

TY: The group members were mainly young people from Fresno. There were about twenty of us. Then, the Hawaii group, led by Mr. Kazama from Hawaii. Another group of people from Okinawa. Let me see... Mr. Oshiro, Ige and others. There were about ten Okinawans.

I1: Did they all join the Kai group later?

TY: Yes. There were a total of about forty young people in the group. Forty young people.

I1: It was quite a group.

TY: Kazama, Ige and I often stayed with the group.

I2: Were they all Kibei?

TY: Yes. Almost everyone was Kibei. Some people are regular Nisei. In a place like Jerome, those leader figures spoke English. Japanese was better in a camp. There wasn't even one violent incident. We went to Tule Lake. Kai encouraged us to go back to Japan together, and many answered 'no' to the questions. We were all sent to Tule Lake. The first thing we witnessed when we went to Tule Lake from Jerome was a dance party in the mess hall. The original Tule Lake incarcerees were having fun. Ige and Kazama from Okinawa broke into the party and told them, "We are at war now. It is a life or death situation. How can you have a dance party?" It wasn't a head-on fight. We just told them to stop dancing and said it is not time to have fun. We called the party off. Since then there weren't any recreational activities at Tule Lake. When I met Bob Hayashida at the stockade, he told me, "You were holding a stick that time."

I2: [Inaudible]

I1: Did you just grab the stick? Were you carrying it all the time?

TY: I was carrying it all the time. Everyone was carrying his artwork to show off. It didn't mean anything. He told me that it looked like I came in to fight with the stick. It was threatening. "We immediately recognized that you were the famous track athlete, too. So, we immediately called off the party and went back silently." He said, "You were very threatening." [Laughs]

I2: Was it at the dance party?

I1: It wasn't a raid. [Laughs]

I2: What happened to the walking stick?

TY: I don't know. I must have lost it when I went to the stockade. I didn't have it when I went to the meeting to demand better living conditions. I probably stopped walking around with the stick after the incident at the dance hall.

I2: Did you make it by yourself?

TY: I did. I found a good root. So, I learned how to polish from the elders and polish the root every day. It shines when you polish.

I2: Did you carve anything?

TY: It was quite bumpy and looked very interesting. It was just wonderful looking.

I1: That's too bad. Hope you can find it. [Laughs]

<End Segment 23> - Copyright (c) 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.