Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Paul Nagano Interview
Narrator: Paul Nagano
Interviewers: Stephen Fugita (primary), Becky Fukuda (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: May 25, 1999
Densho ID: denshovh-npaul-01-0009

<Begin Segment 9>

SF: You mentioned earlier that the Christians were more likely to be "yes-yes," I guess, or volunteer for the 442 than the Buddhists overall. Did that cause any kind of, oh, tension or fissure or something between some, some Christian elements and some Buddhist elements in the camps because of that difference?

PN: Yeah. That, that division was apparent. But it wasn't just the Buddhists, it was a lot of people that felt, "How can you volunteer, and being in these camps?" And so there was all that tension. But the Christians somehow were identified with those who were really volunteering, and were -- felt that it was their responsibility. So I felt that tension. In fact, as I still remember -- [Laughs] -- this is just a personal experience. But we had three guys in our particular parish that were weightlifters and very husky guys. And they were kinda like a bodyguard for me, because when you walk around camp they would be with me just in case anybody would attack me for being more of the, you know, sympathetic and "yes-yes."

BF: Oh that's really interesting.

PN: Yeah.

BF: So did you, they, these young men took it upon themselves, they felt that you might need some of this protection?

PN: Yeah, they, they sensed that. They kinda walk around with me, just in case. They were big, husky fellows, you know they were really fine Christian fellows that -- yeah.

BF: So the, I mean the tension was significant between...?

PN: Yeah, well, yeah. The fact is we used to -- those who volunteered, we used to have a early morning service together. And it was not exactly a prayer service because some of them were not as religious, but they felt their responsibility, that we just kind of encouraged them. And we had to do that in secret. And then also when the boys left, they went kind of quietly early in the morning. Yeah. So we had a, that little tension going on.

BF: Was there, was there -- related to this, was there more, was there any animosity towards the Protestants in the camp? Because say, you had outside connections with some of -- with the larger church body. Weren't there say, oh, hakujin -- I'm sorry, Caucasian ministers who'd come in and sometimes help out or lend their services to people in the camp? Was there more tension because, because of that? I mean, I know there was some...

PN: Well, no. I think that for example, Christmas presents -- given to everybody. It didn't matter whether Buddhist, Christian, whatever, children. And I think that over -- yeah, there was that Buddhist Christian dichotomy. It wasn't too, too strong. But they were friends. They're friends. And of course, the Buddhist church, at that time, they were asked not to be too vocal because of the war. They got associated with...

BF: By the WRA?

PN: Yeah, WRA. But we got along well. And the interesting thing is that, after I went out of camp the Buddhist priests encouraged their members -- their members or adherents -- to come to the church that I was serving. And I baptized a lot of Buddhists. And they had that wonderful attitude -- says, "Well, you have to have faith, and this is America. Well, I'll go to the Christian church." The Buddhists priests were encouraging that. And so they came to the church I was serving. I baptized -- and they became the best Christians ever, as far as devotion and commitment's concerned. So, you know that was a beautiful attitude.

BF: Let me just clear one thing up, because I think I may have been misleading in my questions that... it sounds like -- that the tension earlier that we were talking about between some people in the camps was related strictly to the issue of registration, and it didn't fall along religious lines. It wasn't like the Buddhists were all "no-nos" and the Christians were all "yes-yes." But that it was more of an issue of -- in that a lot of the "no-nos" or -- were identified those -- some of Christians as being particularly...

PN: Yeah -- exactly.

BF: Yes? Okay. Okay, thanks.

PN: Yeah, that's it, yeah -- right. It's not a Buddhist-Christian conflict at all. It is a matter of conscience, I think. Yeah.

SF: Would maybe -- I mean, was part of that -- just to kind of follow it up a little bit -- the Protestants probably had fewer Kibei in them, right? I mean, as members of the Protestant churches, as opposed to the Buddhist. So in a sense, it was probably this Kibei, Nisei thing, too, overlaying the...

PN: Yeah -- right.

SF: Is that right? Could you comment on...?

PN: That's good insight. Yeah. And the JACL was the target, too, because they were kind of encouraging, developing the 442 and so forth. And the Kibeis were much more -- because of their acculturation in Japan, they felt that, "How can you?" As, even if you're American citizen, if you're in these camps you can't go against Japan. And so the, the Kibeis were the ones that thought of some of the JACL people as inu -- they call 'em, inus. And again, you may have read or heard about how some of the JACL leaders that were in camp were beaten up. And we had that happen in Poston as well, because of, and it was -- if I may try to identify the people, they were Kibei people. They felt that strong loyalty to Japan, in a way, that these guys were turncoats going against the Japanese and also volunteering for the service or encouraging that. That, that wasn't the right thing to do. So they got beaten up.

SF: Uh-huh. As a, a leader of the church and a very influential person, do you think -- were you ever threatened in some minimal way or just...?

PN: Never -- I never really threatened. Just when you walk around and they would yell at you, and that's about it. Yeah, not physically, yeah.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 1999 Densho. All Rights Reserved.