<Begin Segment 13>

TL: You mentioned earlier that through this short wave radio people had a strong impression that Japan was winning the war. So do you remember your reactions to Japanese surrender?

AT: I think we all cried especially after we heard emperor's last speech that he was to surrender, and his voice was pretty wavy and very sad and we all cried.

TL: With the surrender how did that change your family's perspective about where they should go after the camps closed?

AT: No other question, but just go back to where we were from so we all packed up. And when we heard that now we can go back to Sacramento, my mother was the first one out of the camp to go back to Sacramento. She did, by herself and she rented an apartment so we had a place to go back to because our house was not there any more, and she even negotiated a small restaurant near this hotel so we have place to eat. And she came back to Tule Lake after maybe three, four days and she said let's get out of here, [Laughs] let's go home, go back. So we were the first family to leave the camp, yes. And we were very fortunate to have this place to stay 'cause many other Japanese people returning to Sacramento, they had no place to go so they were staying at the church auditorium or places like that for long time before they could find a place to move out to.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.