<Begin Segment 27>

FA: Shosuke, do you have any final thoughts about your life?

SS: About what?

FA: About your life. You've had a long and full life.

SS: Well in a way, I suppose. I might add that my failure to get the promotions that they promised me when I first joined the company, I don't regret that too much because I was able to make money in the market. And I remember some of these guys that were promoted over me. They didn't last too long with Standard and Poor's and the others who knew that I was being bypassed felt sorry for me. And so they used to give me what information they had on certain, on some stocks and they'd tell me all they had available in an effort to help me. And I was able to pick up that information and use it to my own advantage.

FA: Terrific. I have one final question I want to ask you. I interviewed Mike Masaoka in 1988, and I told him about your criticisms of the JACL and not standing up for the rights of American citizens. And he said, "Oh, I know all about Shosuke. But you know, Shosuke and all those guys like him, they weren't there when I was. Making the decisions, taking the responsibility, looking out for the welfare of the majority of Japanese Americans, so Shosuke can take his potshots, but you know, he wasn't there."

SS: No, I wasn't. Because I know how thoroughly detested they were by the Issei when I was in camp. Well, they were on the point of murdering the guy if we hadn't been moved.

FA: So...

SS: I still blame Masaoka and his group. Another thing which I haven't discussed before is the article that appeared in either Harper's or Atlantic Monthly in the autumn of 1941, '41 I guess it was.

FA: Karl Ringle?

SS: Huh?

FA: Karl, "The Japanese Question."

SS: Yeah. Do you have, do know where I can get a copy of that article?

FA: Sure. I'll make you a copy.

SS: The one that appeared in the Harper's or...

FA: Written by Karl Ringle.

SS: I don't even remember the name. But I'd like very much because in there, there is a statement. A flat statement saying that it was the understanding of the author of that article that the JACL, the national leadership of the JACL came mostly from the eta class.

FA: You mean the untouchables.

SS: Yeah, the untouchables of Japan. And the more I think of that article, the more correct those statements were.

<End Segment 27> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.