<Begin Segment 27>

DG: So I'm trying to paint a picture here of what it was like when Pearl Harbor was bombed and your family and how it impacted your family and your business. So.

FN: Well yeah.

DG: Your.

FN: Naturally we were think, well what are we going to do with all this stuff. Some way or another. Well, having Hiram and Helen there too, that helped at least to. But all the Japanese were in the same position, they didn't know what to do with all it, everything. That was one of the main reasons was that for a lot of Japanese, they didn't know what to do with, what their... they couldn't very well leave the house empty and just store their things there. Of course at that, we were fortunate that, we had friends that did that for us.

DG: Did you think that this was something that was going to be permanent that you had to leave and you'd lose everything or did you think you'd come back?

FN: No, we always thought when this trouble was over that we'd be able to return so we left most things intact. So we didn't worry about whatever we left and how.

DG: So did, like your husband made a lot of contacts in his business and so forth. Were, were they still friendly to you and all, and helped you out or did, did, or were some -- ?

FN: There was, there was one fellow especially in American Legion. He was a good friend of my husband's. And he, he, he said when the, when I told him that the FBI had taken, my husband has to go, and he said why would they ever take, think that Mr. Noji had anything to do with, to, to help Japan and all that kind of thing. And so he, he was one of the staunch reason too that someone that really helped us in a way. Otherwise, all other people...

DG: Were there any other people that you, you went to for advice or anything?

FN: No. I really don't recall that very well.

DG: Did you talk things over with your mother-in-law? Did she have...

FN: Well my mother-in-law was one of those ladies that she really was just typical Issei lady. No, she, she, she let everything fall where it dropped. She didn't think of things like -- [Laughs]

DG: So you had to make the decisions.

FN: So, yeah.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.