Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Nobu Suzuki Interview II
Narrator: Nobu Suzuki
Interviewer: Dee Goto
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: June 11, 1998
Densho ID: denshovh-snobu-02-0020

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DG: Okay. Then back to this council, this Japanese Resettlement Committee, and we were talking about the different organizations that seem to be represented on this committee. And we were talking -- I don't know -- was this a name that you knew, Merlin Payne?

NS: I don't recall.

DG: From the council of social agencies?

NS: Could be.

DG: So now we have the YWCA represented.

NS: Yes. The YWCA was always interested because I was on the board.

DG: And the Friends.

NS: And the Friends Service Committee...

DG: And then some of the social agencies.

NS: ...with Floyd Schmoe and the "Family Service Committee".

DG: Right. So a lot of the service organizations in the city were represented on this committee?

NS: Yes.

DG: In the minutes they mention some numbers that they dealt with. Somebody gave a report. And so maybe I'll have you comment. For instance, in this four-month period -- and I think by this time it's 1946. Okay, they had 483 that they helped with housing.

NS: For what? To come back?

DG: Probably.

NS: Four hundred, eighty-three people wanted to come back?

DG: Right. In this four-month period, this committee dealt with 483 people.

NS: With all the people that were coming back.

DG: Right.

NS: Yes, could be.

DG: And what do you think that they might have done?

NS: Well, they came back to their own businesses, which probably was taken care of by either their friends, or -- was still open for them to come back to; and their houses, probably that they had rented but were able to come back and repossess; and businesses that they had that -- a good many were in the hotel business and they probably could come back and reclaim that; and other grocery stores and other businesses that they had.

DG: Well, did they provide... now, what I assume is that this committee was known somewhere so that they could contact this committee. Was there anything like houses that they set up like that Spokane house you were talking about, the Friends set up?

NS: I think there might have been.

DG: Temporary housing places?

NS: There might have been. Of course, at that time there were -- the Baptists had a home for single women and so did the Methodists at that time. And so I imagine those homes were open for people who needed temporary housing. And then there were a lot of hotels that people had, and they were probably open for people who wanted to come and come back to Seattle.

DG: Now, we did an interview with the Murakami sisters, and they talked about how they provided a lot of meals for the first people.

NS: Could be.

DG: Rice. Were there any other organizations you could think of that were involved at this time?

NS: Well, I was mostly involved with the YWCA and the Family Service and the "American Friends Service."

DG: What about Japanese organizations? Churches?

NS: The churches, yes. The churches were back and they had -- of course, their churches were full of people's belongings, but I imagine that when they were all distributed that they had their churches open again. I don't know whether I went back to the Japanese church. I don't think so. I think when I came back I went to the neighborhood church, which was mostly all white people.

DG: Why did you do that?

NS: It was necessary because the children were still little. I felt that they needed to know their neighbors more and could go to a neighborhood church and meet them rather than taking them to a foreign situation.

DG: Was JACL involved at all?

NS: I don't think so. I wasn't involved too much with JACL at that time.

DG: Were there any kenjinkai organizations?

NS: There were kenjinkai organizations, but I don't know that they helped individuals that much. I don't think they were organized as yet coming back.

<End Segment 20> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.