<Begin Segment 30>

DG: So what did you think of Minidoka when you got there?

GF: Oh, I thought, "My God, where are we?" [Laughs] But after you stayed awhile -- we had all the military guards. I think we're prisoners of war, but I said to myself, "Gee, why take everybody in?" But there's a thought behind that, though. If we were outside, who would prevent from shooting us thinking that we're alien -- I mean, we're Japanese from Japan spying on United States? They couldn't tell the difference and I think if you get shot, it would be just our... just a mistake.

DG: You don't think that's just an excuse?

GF: It could be an excuse. It could be an excuse because they said, "Well, we don't like Japs." That's what they said, a lot of these places says. Like we used to go to the bowling alley, "Japs not allowed," and haircut place, "Japs, we don't take Japs."

DG: This was even before the war.

GF: That was right after the war started. Before the war you had -- well, we went to, went to a restaurant, three of us fellows, four of us went to the restaurant, and they said, "Well, I'm sorry. We don't serve Japanese, Japs." I says, "Hell with you." We just took the salt and sugar and spread it all over the floor and then walked out.

DG: When was this?

GF: That was before, way before the war.

DG: Really?

GF: Yeah, we had those kind of things.

DG: Where was this?

GF: This was in Portland. I don't remember the restaurant, but we walked in to get something to eat and they, maybe they didn't like our looks. I don't know, but they, "No, we don't serve Japs" -- they don't say Japanese -- "We don't serve Japs." Oh, is that right? So we just took the salt and said, "Okay let's do this," took the napkins and the salt and pepper and we threw it all over the floor and walked out. "Goodbye," we said. We were young yet so we didn't care. [Laughs]

DG: Japanese didn't do too much of that.

GF: No, they didn't. There is only a certain groups like ourselves probably. [Laughs] Well, they were pretty quiet. Japanese are pretty quiet. They're well-behaved.

DG: What gave you the impetus to show your feelings a little bit?

GF: Yeah. This fellow, he went in the army, too, but a friend of ours -- one is in California and another in Portland -- four us went out. I can still remember that. I said, "Oh, these goddamn ketos." We called them ketos. [Laughs]

<End Segment 30> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.