<Begin Segment 30>

AI: Well, now that you mention it, about the food and some of the things in the earlier parts of camp time, I want to ask you a little bit more about the early part of camp, also. When you were first there, that fall of 1942, I understand that there were some other disturbances in some of the other camps. You mentioned how Mr. Okamoto had been shot in Tule Lake. And I heard that there were also some strikes in Manzanar...

KM: Manzanar.

AI: ...and Poston. And I believe that was about November of '42...

KM: Uh-huh.

AI: ...so a little, shortly after Jack got sick.

KM: Uh-huh.

AI: Do you recall anything happening like that at Gila River?

KM: Well, there were, but I never did know directly. I just, it was just hearsay. But I have a niece by marriage, and her uncle -- his name is Tayama, he was in Manzanar, and he was a JACL leader. I don't know whether you heard about him or anything. But because of that, he was always in trouble because the disloyal ones wanted to kill him. But he didn't get killed. But then he was always guarding his life every time he goes out. And it was a quite a very stressing time for them, for him.

AI: Now, when you mention disloyal, and loyal, are, you're maybe referring to this questionnaire that came out, that...

KM: Yes.

AI: ...and as I understand it, the government gave out this questionnaire to everybody, and there had two particular questions that they wanted people to answer. Do you happen to remember that yourself, getting the questionnaire?

KM: Yes, I do.

AI: And what did you think about that?

KM: Well, it just says in case we had to make a choice to be on Japan's side or American side, which side would you take? Which would you be loyal to? And 'course, for me personally, it was to the American side. But some Japanese Isseis, they still felt like Japan was their country. And then, see that's where Niseis were kinda emotionally, just, they didn't know which way to go. But if they were underage, naturally they would follow their parents. And so I have a lot of family, personal family that they went to Japan. And Japan was so bad and the food was so scarce that they actually saw some of these people just starve to death on the train station, begging for food. But the American government is so forgiving that after the war was ended, they paid their way back. And if they want to come back to America, even though they were disloyal, they came back. And I know that kinda family too. So you know, it wasn't really fair even among us that was loyal. But somehow we just, wartime people get lost and they don't, they really sometime can't think straight because of hysteria and so forth. So we just became friends again.

AI: Well, and as I understand it, the Issei, at that time, they could not become naturalized...

KM: No.

AI: ...U.S. citizens even if they wanted to.

KM: Yeah.

AI: And so they were pretty much, they had no choice but to remain Japanese citizens.

KM: Yeah.

AI: Did any of the Issei ever discuss that? Or do you recall them...

KM: Well...

AI: ...at that time of the questionnaire discussing what to do about the answers?

KM: Well, I think it's their children that kept them in America, to be loyal to America, 'cause otherwise we'd be separated. It's the same thing as when the parents wanted to go to Japan and the younger ones had, they wanted us to be American, but they had to go because of their age. So it worked both ways. But in my case, my parents wanted to stay with us, so they were loyal.

AI: So they answered, "yes, yes..."

KM: Yeah.

AI: ...even though they couldn't become U.S. citizens...

KM: That's right.

AI: ...and...

KM: But like in Tule Lake and Manzanar you know, they sent all the disloyal ones into those camps, but there was a lot of loyal ones still left, so see, that's where the confliction came. And so even you were among your own people, we had to be careful what we say about the war, concerning the war, 'cause then people that's disloyal well, they'll just tell the others and they gang up on you. And that's what happened to this, at Manzanar.

AI: Now, speaking of Tule Lake, did you mention in our earlier talk that you had a friend in Tule Lake that you corresponded with, that you wrote letters to her?

KM: No, no, no. I didn't have any friend. I just have a friend's brother, or friend's, somebody else that lived over there. And then she told me about what happened.

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.