Densho Digital Archive - Yaeko Nakano - Kenichi Nakano - Hiroshi Nakano - Stanley Nakano Interview (denshovh-nyaeko

<Begin Segment 11>

TL: One of the other, one of the other aspects of life at Tule Lake that many people comment on is the situation with Kibeis. And I actually want to start with your sons' impressions of, "What does Kibei mean and how does my father fit into that." I'm wondering if you had any thoughts or impressions about that.

KN: Well, actually I've learned a tremendous amount just this week. [Laughs] So the only thing I knew about the Kibei was a person who was raised in Japan or studied in Japan and came back. That was about all I knew. And in terms of my father, it was that he had a tough life in Japan because he was abandoned by his mother so he got kicked around from family to family. And then his brother and he at age fourteen decided to come back so they got on a, jumped a ship or something, and came back. That's all I knew of what a Kibei is, but I've learned just a tremendous amount in just the last two days about other Kibeis and their experience.

HN: I guess most -- other than that, which is basically my experience, too... just reading books about internment and the role of the Kibei and the fact that a lot of them expressed a lot of loyalty toward Japan. Or maybe not so much loyalty to Japan, but being really ticked off at the United States and, therefore, seeing going back to Japan or showing their loyalty towards Japan was the only option because obviously United States didn't show them much favor. So there was that part. I guess part of what I've been trying to figure out a little bit more is kind of like how Dad fit into all that. Because I know there was a range, there was a range of Kibei behavior. There were those that were just staunchly, "We're going back and we're going to be part of the Imperial Army and we're going to kick American butt," and all that. And then there were the ones that said, "Well, maybe that's not such a great idea," even though they were still angry. And then there was just people's impressions. I keep hearing from my mom that the Kibeis in the rest of the Japanese American community weren't exactly seen upon with kind eyes. And so they were really kind of -- my feeling about them is they're kind of floating around out there in this society, and society at that point, their own community didn't necessarily trust them, certainly the outside world didn't trust them. And I'm not quite sure what their response would have been going back to Japan because my assumption would be they would come back and they don't have any stake in Japan at that point, they don't have any place to go, and they're, for all intents and purposes, American from their point of view. So I would think that the Kibei were under tremendous pressure just to find where they fit in all this.

TL: Did you want to add anything, Stan?

SN: Well, mine was more just that when he came over I think he was fourteen or so.

YN: Fourteen.

SN: He was by himself or with...

YN: No, he came by himself as far as I know.

SN: Yeah. So he came over here, he didn't speak English, he was fourteen years old, came alone, and I think about... and then he had to start school over again.

YN: From kindergarten.

SN: From kindergarten because he couldn't speak English. And I think about how terribly easy my life has been. And how if I don't feel like doing this or I'm too chicken to do something, and then you think about the experiences of my dad going through all that is just amazing.

TL: Did you want to say more, Kenichi?

KN: The stories I've heard about his school, because in Japan he was really good in science and math so he was taking in high school here, he was taking advanced science and math, but he was taking grade school English. And he'd get teased 'cause he couldn't speak English, but he could excel in math and science.

HN: It's actually kind of -- Mom has Dad's high school grades. And so you could see every year, I think, like, he flunked freshman, freshman English or something like that, and then by the time he graduated as a senior, he actually was getting straight A's. So he was pretty motivated.

YN: Well, he took Latin to learn English better. That way he can get the root of it. Also the fact that he was planning to be a doctor, too, and in Latin he had straight A's.