Densho Digital Repository - Mary Okazaki Kozu Interview (Densho ID: ddr-densho-1000-511-13)

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BY: All right, we're going to talk a little bit about Pearl Harbor. So you started to tell me that on Pearl Harbor, on that day, that your brother was at the store arranging the display. You said you were there, too?

MK: Yeah.

BY: What were you doing?

MK: Oh, I was playing on the, a bicycle or something. Because I couldn't do anything else, but I just remember the radio playing and the announcement, and I know my brother hurriedly got ready to go back to Fort Lewis.

BY: Because he was on leave from Fort Lewis?

MK: Yeah, for the weekend.

BY: And was helping get the store ready for Christmas? And so he went back.

MK: He had to go back. They kept announcing (on the radio) an all military return to your base.

BY: And was there anyone else at the store with you at the time, you and your brother?

MK: Yeah. I think one of the workmen who delivered.

BY: And do you remember when you went home, do you remember your father or mother or your older siblings talking about what had happened?

MK: No, but I know my father was worried he would get picked up. Because there was talk about...

BY: And why did he think that he would get picked up?

MK: Oh, because he was a businessman and he donated to all the Japanese things. And so he was worried about that. But he wasn't active, but for days after that, he stayed away from the house and he would call. I don't know where...

BY: Do you know where he went?

MK: Well, I think he might have gone to his sister, my aunt's, I think, rather than staying at home.

BY: Because he thought they would come to his house?

MK: Yeah, thinking that they wouldn't find him or something. I just remember him calling.

BY: Do you remember other Issei men getting picked up and taken away at that time?

MK: No.

BY: You don't? Okay.

MK: I think I did one. I think it was my girlfriend's father, he was active at one of those Japanese clubs. And I think he was taken that day. Other than that, it was... I just remember. And I know they came into, I have a picture of the Seattle Times coming to the store.

BY: To the Togo store?

MK: Yeah. Because my father, as soon as it happened, there was talk about evacuation. He had a sign maker post a big sign on the show window with my brother's picture saying that this store is owned by him, and he's in the military.

BY: Do you have a picture of that?

MK: Uh-huh.

BY: Oh, I would love to see that. That sounds like an important...

MK: It's not a good picture but it's a picture from the Seattle Times. I'm looking at the sign.

BY: So it was in the Seattle Times and it's a picture of you looking at the sign?

MK: Yeah, uh-huh.

BY: I'd be very interested. Do you have a copy of that?

MK: Yeah, I have that. And I remember the newsreel had a picture of (...) my sisters carrying suitcases or something out of our house when they announced our evacuation. So I remember going, they (looked) in the newspapers to find out which theater it would be shown at. And I remember seeing that.

BY: So it was a newsreel.

MK: Yeah.

BY: Wow, I wonder if Densho has that. That sounds all so very interesting. So other than the teacher who wanted the broom, what was the reaction, say, the next day, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, on Monday, when you went back to school? Do you remember?

MK: Oh, our school principal was so (concerned) for the Japanese (students). She said firmly that nothing was to happen to the Japanese students. Because I don't know when it took place, but the Chinese students started coming (to school) wearing a "China" pin. And she said those do not belong on them. Yeah, she was very firm about that and protecting the Japanese students.

BY: Okay. And your teachers as well were supportive, you feel like?

MK: Yeah.

BY: So what were your feelings? You were nine or ten years old. Were you scared, were you worried, do you remember how you felt?

MK: You know, actually, I guess I didn't even think about all that. Because I have such a big family, I guess, and I was always left out of conversations and stuff. So I didn't really, I don't think I paid attention to that.