<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So you're now in Vale, or Ontario, I'm not sure exactly how close they are. But you now see your brothers, and they're surprised to see you. So what happens next?

MT: Well, fortunately there was a family friend, it's a couple, they were the ones that took my brother in and took care of him. And if I had known, I wouldn't have left camp. Anyway, they took me in, too, until I was able to find work, since I was out there now, you know. So I found domestic work.

TI: Was it kind of a live-in domestic work?

MT: Yes.

TI: So describe the family that you did this with. Who were they?

MT: It was a Jewish couple with one child. They were okay, but you know, you just always keep wondering what really, how really they feel about having us, because that Ontario was, there were a lot of people that were not afraid to call us names. You'd be walking, you'd go in a movie theater and they'd kick your seat and call you a dirty name.

TI: So was this kind of the place that you got the worst treatment when you think of name calling and things like this?

MT: Yes.

TI: Now why do you think Ontario? You mentioned earlier there were quite a few Japanese Americans who moved there.

MT: And I think that even made the situation worse when they came in, made themselves more visible, and I think maybe the people that were living there just felt that way, I don't know. I did have one bad experience. This home that I was working in was on a hill, and it was not a long walk, but then down the hill I could walk into town when I had time. And one day, I was passing this field, and the whole field, lot was empty, and so there was homes on the other side that would have been another street. And I was walking along going towards town and I saw this dog coming across that field, and it attacked me and tore my coat. So I know the people that were living in those homes let that dog out.

TI: They set the dog at you?

MT: I'm sure. Otherwise the dog wouldn't have seen me from way over there, why did he come and attack me?

TI: So that's really dangerous, that was a physical attack.

MT: Yeah, tore my coat. So that was not a good feeling for me.

TI: And how was it for your brothers? Did they feel the same type of things?

MT: They didn't say very much, and I think they may have heard things, but they maybe were able to brush it off, which is about what you have to do in most cases, because it doesn't do any good to really talk back.

TI: Did you ever have any conversations with the family you were staying with, this Jewish couple? I'm wondering because oftentimes Jews are also discriminated against because of their religion. Did they feel similar things in Ontario, or did you ever talk about...

MT: No, I never did get into a conversation with them about that.

TI: And did they ever, you get a conversation about the camps or anything, where you came from? Did they ever ask you questions about that?

MT: No, nothing more than, "What happened to your family?" or, "Where is your family?" Because at that time they were still in camp. So they knew about it.

TI: But no discussions about it.

MT: I don't recall.

TI: Going back to now your parents, after the "loyalty questionnaire," I think you mentioned how they went from Tule Lake, and then they transferred to Minidoka?

MT: Yes.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright © 2016 Densho. All Rights Reserved.