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DG: And so what was the mood like when you returned to Bainbridge Island? What were the, what was it like to get reacquainted with friends?

KN: You know, we kind of, kind of kept quiet. I don't know why, I just kept looking over my shoulder. I don't know why I did that. Not that anybody threatened us or anything, but something in me just made me want to always look over my shoulder, make sure that everything's okay. And I had no reason to do that, but I did that. And I remember so well doing it. But they were just wonderful. Let's see, we came back in 1945, and in 1948, we organized our orthopedic group, the Nisei group, and then we all intermingled with the Caucasians and everybody else, and everything went well. Yeah, it was almost like we didn't have a war, or that we weren't gone. Everything was just fine, and everything's been fine ever since. And have to say, Bainbridge Island is a wonderful place to live, I tell you.

DG: So can you compare how you felt living here, how it was to live here before the war and after, because you said you looked over your shoulder a lot when you came back, but it wasn't like that before?

KN: No, it wasn't like that before, but I think because of the war, and that we were gone, that something just made me think that maybe somebody might do something or follow me or something, I don't know. To this day, I don't know why I did it. But we were very, we got along with the community, but after the war, it just got better. We were so close. And even now, most of my real good friends are Caucasians. We go back and forth, and it's wonderful.

DG: Do you remember how it was in Seattle, when you ever traveled to Seattle, was it a different atmosphere there?

KN: Oh, one time I traveled to Seattle, sometime after the war broke out, I think it was, or there was tension between America and Japan. And I was in a restaurant in the International District, and there was a Caucasian fellow and he came up to me and says, "Well, you Chinese" are something, so it was okay, he didn't think I was Japanese. Otherwise, he might have gave it to me, I don't know. [Laughs]

DG: Did you experience any other discrimination or prejudices?

KN: No, never. At least I never felt it or I've never seen it or heard, since we've been back. It's just been great.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.