<Begin Segment 13>

BK: But going back to Petersburg and your father was taken away right away, did your life... and then you went to school the next day, Monday. And there was this large assembly.

JT: Uh-huh. At which time they announced that America was at war.

BK: What was the attitude of other fellow students and teachers towards you and your other friends of Japanese descent?

JT: Well, we didn't feel that very much except that when the announcement was made, everybody, all the students would turn around to see what our reaction was, I'm sure. And, I don't think we stayed in school much further beyond that. I think we just stayed at home, and we didn't -- because then our folks were taken, and one thing led to another, and I don't think we ever returned to school again.

BK: So you, did your mother still continue with the laundry business and all of that while your father was in jail?

JT: Yes, they did whatever they could, you know, but it was very difficult. And I don't remember just how much business there was beyond that point, 'cause I wasn't really involved in anything. And I think it was just, when they learned, when they got out of jail and everything, they knew that they were going to be sent away, they had learned they were going to be sent away. So they were busy with trying to take care of the house and pack up household goods and do with the business what they could -- which was nothing, actually. Actually what happened was we just packed up everything, got up, and just left. And we were able to take a little bit more than people, I guess, according to my husband, people in Seattle were allowed a suitcase each or something like that. At the beginning, they were very tight about it, but I understand that as the evacuation wore on and they were taking more people out, they were a little more lenient with it. They just took whatever they packed up, they took as much as they could carry and then went on to camp and they didn't make them leave it there or anything. So, so we just packed up everything and we had no one to tie... my brother was in Seattle, going to school, and he couldn't, they would not let him, allow him to come back to Alaska so we just were able to pack up what we could. And there was one young fellow there who was married to a Nisei, one of us, and so he helped a little bit but he had his hands full with their family, so we were basically on our own.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.