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HM: Do you remember hearing the news... you said you were in Seattle when the news came that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. And could you tell us a little more about how you heard about it and what you felt as soon as you heard this news?

YT: As soon as I heard about Pearl Harbor? Well, it was hard to believe, you know. You wouldn't think Japanese would do something like that. I mean, that was horrible. The first thing I did was call Mrs. Tsujimoto and I said, "What do you think?" And she said her husband was taken the first day, I think, to the internment camp, And so she was crying, she didn't know what to do either. So, she said, "Don't worry, somehow we're going to get through this," and if I'm stuck there by myself, she says they'll make sure that I'll evacuate with them, when the time comes, but let's hope that I get to go back to Bainbridge so I could be with my family. That was the main concern for her.

HM: Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor? Were you by yourself or were you with somebody?

YT: No, I was working as a maid, and it was early in the morning, I don't remember that early but it was Sunday, I think, and usually Sunday is my day off so I got up early enough to do what I was supposed to do and then I would take the bus and go into town to visit my friends. So I did. I mean, I wasn't afraid of anything at the time. I know the war had started but then, I decided I'm going to go see them, and I took the bus and went downtown and nothing happened. Nobody said anything to me. So I made it home that night, safely. And then of course the family that I worked for, they were older folks, and they were more concerned about me being away from my family, but they didn't want me to leave 'em just now because they no replacement, live-in to help them. It must have been a week afterwards that Ms. McCullough took me to the Federal Hall, and I come back and said, "I have to leave tonight." I'm sure it was upsetting for them, but they didn't want to hold me back, so I packed what little I had, and left.

HM. You left your employment from Seattle and went back to the island. Do you remember when you came back? During that time when you came back to the island, what was it like? Did you have to register? What kinds of things did your family have to go through before the evacuation?

YT: I don't think so. Well, you know, it's not like now, where you visit, and you talk, I don't think we had TV or anything of the sort. So most people were shocked or in their homes quietly, and wondering what their next move would be. So, I don't remember hearing too much at the time or seeing what was going on. Nobody said anything to me when I came across on the ferry or got off, you know. Nobody on the island, I don't think there were that many people that were against us or... so I didn't have no bad experience.

HM: Did any of the Japanese, like Maggie and those people, come to your house, or anyone from the Japanese American community come to your house to let you kind of know what was going to be involved in the evacuation?

YT: Somebody must have, but I don't remember that part of it.

HM: So there was nothing for you to prepare to go to camp?

YT: Not really until word was around that we have to leave on such and such a day, and you could only take two suitcases or whatever you could carry. And one thing I remember is taking my iron, electric iron, because I figured no matter what, you have to iron your clothes, and it was heavy, but that's one thing, I remember telling my dad we have to have that. But it was sad, we left all the good things like those Japanese dolls, like Boys Day and Girls Day, we left all of that. I don't know what happened to them.

HM: Did you store anything like in the Japanese Hall?

YT: No, we didn't store anything.

HM: Left everything in the house?

YT: No time for that kind of stuff.

HM: Do you remember anything about going on the ferry itself?

YT: No, we had to go. We marched on. The soldiers helped us get off and escorted us on.

HM: Do you remember what the atmosphere was like on the ferry and on the train?

YT: No, I really don't, you know. I don't remember recalling any conversation of any kind. I guess everybody was kind of shocked. I really don't remember any noise going on or... all those soldiers were good to us, I mean, they must have felt sorry for us. I don't remember hearing any conversation.

HM: What about your own thoughts? Did you have any?

YT: Well, we didn't know where we were going, when we were coming back. It was kind of scary. But other than that, I don't remember. And then we're on the train, going, where, we didn't know where we were headed for.

HM: It is scary. Tell us anything more about this experience, about your family, or after you got back, down the road. How did this whole experience determine how you raised your own family and what have you passed on to your children and your grandchildren?

YT: I don't know. But lot of people have given me a lot of credit for bringing my kids up, you know. They said at least they have their education. My oldest brother didn't go to college, but Archie did well, and Ruth went to, what do you call those college, and she took up secretarial work and she's doing all right, and Jane did bookkeeping things, and she did all right. And my dad always said, "You're the only one that didn't get no education," and he felt sorry for me. But then I did all right. And it's really amazing, when I look back I think, I'm not bragging or anything but I think I did pretty good making sure my kids... it's not my kids, but they didn't go wild. My dad was strict too, so we made it, and the boys did real well. And I try to tell my grandkids what we did, and when they don't do things, I say, my goodness, you couldn't do half of the things that I had to do. I mean, I didn't do a good job at it, but I said, now, they depend on their mother, and all these modern machines so they don't have to do half of the things. I said, "You don't know how lucky you are," to appreciate what, you know, their living condition is right now. They could do whatever they want without worrying. Like we didn't get to do anything because we were so poor at the time. But thanks to Mrs. Tsujimoto and Mrs. Chihara for helping me because they were really a second mother to me. That's my life.

HM: That's great. It's a nice story.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2007 Densho. All Rights Reserved.