<Begin Segment 11>

AI: I wanted to ask you, especially Aya, because you are the oldest, Aya. I think I remember you were saying earlier that your father relied on you a lot for interpreting? And could you talk a little bit about sometimes when you would help, what you would help your father with, as far as interpreting?

MM: You went with Pop to, for interpreting?

AM: Mmm.

MM: So, what, what were, what were they?

AM: What?

MM: When you went with Pop, interpreting. But, ano, a lawyer was with us, too. Ano, Tom Masuda.

AM: We had to pledge our loyalty to, you know, for the, to the country, uh-huh. And my father used to explain that "America is my father," and...

MM: "Japan is my mother."

AM: "Japan is my mother. And they had to be in good terms. So, I'll always want that to be true." So, they questioned his loyalty. His is...

DG: And so where is this? That you're talking about?

AM: That was during, (...) just after war started, and people (...) got started (...) being picked up, you know. If they (were) too loyal to a certain Japanese cause, then they wanna take them over the mountain, I think. And, well... he got into the camp, the detention camp. That was the, how would you call it?

MM: Ano, hora, where they had the Puyallup Fair no toko ne. That's where we were sent. No.

DG: Did he go to the immigration office?

AM: No, he was stuck in the...

MM: Oh, he was stuck at Immigration for a while, but they released him. They questioned him, and Papa was telling us the kind of questions they asked and they came right out and said, "Who do you want to win the war, Japan and America?" And most of the gentlemen, Japanese gentlemen (said) America, but my dad says, "Neither." I said, oh you said that? He said, "Neither." He says couples fight like husband and wife in that and says, "I don't want neither one to win, or lose." And so they released him. I said, "Papa, you're really smart." I never thought it that way, you know. But he says, other Issei say, who do you want to win the war, he said minna America. Actually you don't, you know, you're not thinking that in your heart. But they say it thinking that it makes a better impression on the inspectors. But I said, "Oh Papa, you had a good answer." He says, "Neither, I don't want neither one. It's (like) a husband and wife argument."

DG: So did you have to go there and help interpret?

MM: No, that's after, way after. Oh, before, way before. Like, kono property no koto nanka, you know, he had lot of papers to...

DG: Right, that's what...

MM: Sono toki ni, ano, Tom Masuda and (Aya), and my dad would go and...

AM: They made it into a corporation.

MM: That was the only way Pop could...

DG: Whose idea was that?

MM: Lawyers. The lawyers told us what to do.

AM: Uh-huh.

DG: And so did you have to interpret for your father at that time?

MM: Well, then, well, too, because, eventually, it... was your name in it, too?

AM: Uh-huh.

MM: Yeah.

DG: Well, the family was involved?

MM: But father, but Pop's name is not in 'cause he's not a citizen.

DG: 'Cause, see, that's unusual for Japanese to...

AM: Not many, no.

DG: ...form a corporation.

MM: That was the only way, huh, that Tom Masuda, the lawyer, you know, is the one who helped us.

AM: So being a citizen, I would own most of the stock.

DG: Like how much stock did you own?

MM: I don't know.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.