Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Francis Mas Fukuhara Interview
Narrator: Francis Mas Fukuhara
Interviewers: Tom Ikeda (primary), Elmer Good (secondary)
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: September 25, 1997
Densho ID: denshovh-ffrancis-01-0014

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EG: You were in camp a relatively short time.

FF: Yeah, I was. I, for figuring longevity and all my civil service and everything -- what else was there that required -- yeah, I guess I was mostly... anyway, I thought I was, it just seemed like I was in camp forever. But they gave me credit for only six months, so I couldn't have been there very long. I think I was there more than six months, though, because I was there August. Well, maybe not. See, it was '42, August of '42. And then in summer of, in the summer '43, I was in Chicago. So I guess maybe I was only...

TI: But during those six months, you mentioned earlier that your father, you were reunited with your father. He was taken away by the FBI but then later on, he went to Minidoka when you were there.

FF: Yeah.

TI: Can you describe what it felt like having your father come back, and what was he like?

FF: Yeah, it was... it was really a shock to me to see him, because I thought he was gone for the duration. And he came back and really, a couple of things happened. One, he was really very bitter about, about being hauled off like that, and understandably. And one of the things he, one of the things that came up was, he was on one of the lists sent from Japan for repatriation. Somebody requested his repatriation. And so, I guess if we chose to, we could have gone on a, got on a boat and gone back to Japan.

TI: I'm not familiar with this. So there's a list that came from Japan?

FF: Yeah.

TI: That had his name on it?

FF: See, there are, yeah, there are people that want to repatriate to Japan. But, there were a number of them during the war. But whether you got to repatriate or not, you couldn't just say, "I want to go," somebody had to want you, too.

TI: Okay, I didn't realize that.

FF: Yeah. At least, that was my understanding.

TI: So it sounds like there were two lists. A list that had to come from Japan that said they wanted you. And also a person or a sense on this side saying, "I want to go over," and they had to match up.

FF: Yeah, yeah. 'Cause the way I understood it, somebody asked for him to repatriate. And so he wanted to go and I think really, the reason we didn't go was because I didn't want to go. In fact, I refused to go. I didn't want to influence their decision. I mean, I told him, "You do what you gotta do, but I don't know Japan and so I'm not going to go." So I, so they decided against repatriation. And the other thing is when that, that loyalty thing came along, and heck, I mean, I actually, I actually was going to volunteer. But I told my old man about it, and God, he just... he was really, violently opposed to it. And he said, "Gosh, I mean, if they call you, that's one thing, but jeez, I mean, they throw you in a place like this. I mean, why would you voluntarily go?" Well, it's a very reasonable argument. I could understand that. So I compromised and didn't go.

TI: How was your father changed by being taken away? Did he come back sort of a different man after this?

FF: Well, like I say, he was, he really was embittered by the whole experience. But I, I think once, once he decided that he wasn't going to... I think that was the turning point, though, when we decided we weren't going to Japan. I guess he pretty much made up his mind that he was going to stay here. Eventually he got his citizenship. He was a, he died a naturalized American citizen.

TI: Going back to, to when he sort of violently opposed you volunteering for the army, was that a fairly common thing that your other friends experienced, with the Issei fathers trying to convince their sons not to volunteer?

FF: Oh, yeah. In fact, that whole episode was really kind of shattering to some families. Because one of the, I know one of the guys was killed from the Seattle area, he, he was disowned by his father. He was thrown out of the house. And he went into the service and he got killed. Yeah. There was, I think... well, very understandably, the Isseis, many Isseis were pro-Japanese. And, heck, why wouldn't they be? Cripes, this country had rejected them. They were unqualified for citizenship here and, I mean, God only knows. There wasn't anything this country did for the Isseis, really, to encourage them to be loyal to this country. Their experience was really totally anti-Japanese. And so for the Issei to feel that way is no surprise, and even for a Nisei to be anti-American at that time, I don't think it's unthinkable or strange. But I think if you choose to be anti-American, then I think, really, people ought to follow through on it and go to Japan or whatever they want to do.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.