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HM: What was your life like in camp?

YT: What was my life in camp? Well, I guess to be honest, I didn't have to cook, I didn't have to do the stuff that I used to do. It was kind of relaxing time for me so I don't think I really thought it was terrible, although we were in the camp, you know. It was a time when I could do what I want to.

HM: How did it change your life and your outlook on life?

YT: Well, I don't know. You know, we always thought we were loyal Americans. I mean, we were loyal to America, so we figured someday it's going to be all right, I guess. Too young, kind of, to really know what was going on, because we didn't have a college education, you know, we weren't thinking about going to college at that time, but I do remember we had a math teacher named Ms. Biggs. She had written to me saying she had a niece in New York, I think it was Long Island or something, and she said I should think about going there when they sent people out. And my dad was all for it. He said I should, you know, take her up on that offer, because she meant well and my dad said, "We haven't had the opportunity to educate you," says, "Now is your chance." And so, well, I was kind of scared but I'll do it. Then Mrs. Tsujimoto, didn't like that. They told my dad, "You're sending her so far away, you don't know what it's going to be like on the outside, so we don't want you to." They didn't think it was right for him to send me off to a strange big city, not knowing where I was, but my dad said after all, she's a teacher's relative, and he believed in it, he's sure she would be all right. But then there was Mr. Joel, remember? He, too got involved in that. He said, he told my dad, "You should listen to Mr. Tsujimoto tell you that it's a big responsibility for her to take off for a big city all by herself. So give it a second thought." And my dad was real sad about it but he said, you know, if something should go wrong, it would be his fault, so he said, "As much as I am disappointed, maybe you should decline the offer." And we thought about it, and then Mr. Tsujimoto came back and said, "If you really want to have her relocate," then he said their daughter was in Salt Lake City doing some sewing in a tailor factory, "So why don't you send her there?" And then he would know, and my dad would know that I was safe. And so, eventually, that's what I did. So I did miss a big opportunity because they didn't want me to go far away. Well, you can't blame my dad either, because he had two kids at home and the boys were ready to go in the service if they were called, but the girls were too young. So I missed the chance for that big education that I could have had.

HM: Then you mentioned something about the boys getting ready to go to the service. Did Hideaki go into the service out of camp?

YT: I think he went from camp, I'm not really sure. But I remember he being there at Fort Bragg and I don't know when Archie went, but he went too. So they both served in the service.

HM: Which branch did Archie serve?

YT: Both of them were army.

HM: When you left Bainbridge, were you leasing the land? What was the status of your home? Were you leasing the property where you were living?

YT: The status of our home?

HM: On Bainbridge. Did you own the land?

YT: No, we didn't own the land. I think Mr. Nakao allowed us stay in his house, so that's where we were at the time. My dad worked for Mr. Joel at that time.

HM: And what was he doing for Mr. [Joel]?

YT: I think kind of a bookkeeping kind of thing.

HM: And was Mr. Joel a farmer?

YT: Yes.

HM: So, after the war was over, then you actually had no place to really come back to the island?

YT: Well, we had no place to come back to the island because we didn't own that, so like I said, Mr. Tsujimoto was the closest thing to my dad from Japan, so he made sure that he found his way back and we stayed, my dad and two girls stayed with him in Seattle for a while until I got back from Salt Lake City and then we bought our house and moved away from them. But we were that close. I mean, they were like father and mother to us if my dad wasn't there.

HM: How do you feel about what happened to you during the war ...you and your family during World War II? How do you feel about the whole...

YT: Evacuation thing?

MH: Evacuation and everything.

YT: Well, I don't think it really hurt us, because we didn't have property and my dad's farming wasn't doing that well anyway, so it was a new beginning for him, I guess. And for me, going to Salt Lake City to be with Mr. Tsujimoto's daughter and learning how to do tailoring work in a factory, I think it helped me how to sew and I was able to make my kid sister's clothes, and it must have been uncomfortable you know, sewing any which way I did it, but they wore it and my dad was proud that I could do that.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.