<Begin Segment 11>

AI: Can you tell me about that, what your memories are of Pearl Harbor Day?

RT: Oh, yes, I do remember that. Because December 7th, of course, was on a Sunday. And it was around noon, and I did have the radio on, and it dawned on me what was being broadcast on the radio because, of course, they interrupted regular programming. And it took a couple times for the facts to be announced before I realized what they were talking about. And it was around noon, and my dad was working outside. He was covering up this Japanese plant -- it's called udo, I remember that -- and I went running out to tell him. I don't know where my mother was. She probably was visiting someplace because it was Sunday. And I went out to tell him, and he wasn't overly surprised that this had happened. I think because he had gone to Japan and he saw what was going on, that he probably realized that they were preparing for something. However, I remember very much that, of course, the next day in school. And they broadcast President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. And that, I know, I thought, "Oh, I'm Japanese." You felt that. You sort of felt that, that this was something that really concerned you. Because the whole school listened to this speech. And I felt a little self-conscious about the fact that I was Japanese and not completely American.

AI: And before that you hadn't really felt that?

RT: No, I went along my way, and I felt I was just as American as anybody else. But from that event, I think I realized more that, in fact, I was not the same as my friends.

AI: Now, you mentioned that your dad didn't seem that surprised, and he had probably been aware. How about you? Were you surprised when you heard this thing on the radio?

RT: Well, I was stunned. I had no idea. And, of course, I thought at first that it was not real. I just thought it was, when the very first time that I heard it, but they kept repeating it, you know.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.