Densho Digital Archive
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Title: George Fugami Interview
Narrator: George Fugami
Interviewer: Dee Goto
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: June 15, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-fgeorge-01-0024

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DG: Now, before we talk about the war, were you treated okay by the Nisei when you came back?

GF: Niseis? Gee, I don't think I had any -- I didn't associate with Japanese too much. Over here, well, I had few friends. I went to -- this is one thing. I don't know now if this is true or not. I hate to say this kind of thing, but this fellow in JACL, he put a finger on me, I think, because he asked me -- we worked in the cannery together 'cause I had to make money so we worked in the cannery. He says he was going to the University of Oregon or University of... one of the schools, anyway. He says, "What do you think of Japan?" I says, "Well, I tell you. Japan will never declare war on anybody unless they're going to win." They would be a damn fools. Who is going to start a war saying I'm going to lose and start a war? So I said, "Japan is strong, a strong nation." I says, "You can't beat it," because I was educated in Japan. And I think he must have told that to the FBI, that Mr. Fugami says this... and that's the reason why they came to talk to me as I mentioned to you before. I think that, but that was JACL not -- well, since I was JACL president, too, I can't say that kind of thing. [Laughs] But, anyway, at that time there were certain people that probably...

<End Segment 24> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.