<Begin Segment 28>

[Translated from Japanese]

I2: When did you decide to go back to Japan?

TY: I made that decision after I went to Tule Lake.

I2: So you didn't tell the authority in Jerome that you wanted to go back to Japan?

TY: I don't think I did. I just told them that I didn't intend to answer the questions.

I1: So you didn't say you wanted to go back to Japan, but you were sent to Tule Lake because someone put down no and no for your answer to both questions.

TY: Yes.

I2: Did you agree to be sent to Tule Lake?

TY: We didn't have any other options when we were ordered to go. There was nothing you could do. At the same time, I didn't have any particular objection to going to Tule Lake. I was willing to go with my fellow pro-Japan people.

I2: You mean Mr. Kai and his followers all went there?

TY: Correct. I don't know how the others answered the questions. There were many ways to answer them. We all were considered disloyal and segregated.

I1: The administration decided that no answer should be considered as answering "no." We don't know if everyone was aware of that.

I2: Refusing to answer was considered the same as answering "no"?

I1: If the answers to the questions were not simply yes and yes, it was considered as no. I am not sure if people were aware of that. Even if they were aware, refusing to answer or a conditional "yes" was still considered answering "no." The military provision stated the answer should be considered as "no," even something like, "If you release me from the camp."

I2: You were certain you would refuse to answer the questions. You didn't hesitate over whether you should answer yes or no. You thought the questions were nonsense from the beginning.

TY: I told them that I didn't have any intention to answer. I remember seeing a fumie (testing photo or picture for people to step on to demonstrate their disloyalty) in Jerome. I saw it when I went there.

I1: When you went there?

TY: Yes.

I1: What did they make you step on?

TY: It was something Japanese. Some sort of picture to step on.

I1: That's amazing. I wonder what they had to step on.

TY: I don't know what it was, but it caught my eyes.

I2: Was it at the entrance?

TY: Yes.

I2: I wonder who came up with the idea. [Laughs]

I1: That might have been when Mr. Wakayama or someone else was asked to step on a picture of the emperor.

TY: There was something for sure.

I2: Did you step on it? [Laughs]

TY: No. I went around it. But I saw something there.

I2: You could have been marked as a person who didn't step on it. [Laughs]

I1: That's amazing. The number of people who were sent to Tule Lake by answering "no-no" is rather small. The majority was family members of those people and those who wished to return to Japan.

TY: It was tough. Many had family members, and conflicts split parents and children. I don't understand why the questionnaire was administered at such an odd time. It is a total mystery. I don't understand at all if it was for the government to draft more soldiers or to be prepared for prisoner exchange. They did have some reason, I assume. I guess it ended well. Japan lost the war and became a better nation.

I1: That's true.

[Interruption]

<End Segment 28> - Copyright (c) 2004 Densho. All Rights Reserved.