Densho Digital Archive - Iku Amatatsu Watanabe Interview

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HM: All right. I think we'll start with the name of your parents and kind of the background about your family, who you are and things like that.

IW: Okay, my parents were Yoshiaki Amatatsu, and my mother was Taka Aoki Amatatsu. And my mother was a schoolteacher before she left Japan and she taught in Bailey Gatzert school and she taught in Bainbridge for a little while until she had a family. Because just before I came, I know Johnny Nakata was one of her students and Yoshie said, "Oh, so was I. I was a student of hers." Anyway, they had four children, Elsie Yoneko and Kazuko and Michiko, and I'm Ikuko. But it was so nice, we all got together from faraway places yesterday for the reunion. And what else do you want to know?

HM: Tell us a little bit about the background of why your parents came and how they got to the island?

IW: Oh, okay, my father was in medical school in Kumamoto when the war with Russia was on, so he was drafted and went to the World War, Russo-Japan War, and saw all his friends dying, and he was a medic and so he didn't want any part of medicine anymore, so he came to America. And my mother was teaching school in Kagoshima, and he called her and they got married. And it's a funny story, I wrote some of it, but our name is Tentatsu, or heaven and dragon. It's quite a contrast, heaven and dragon, so heavenly dragon, is what the title, so people brought paper and start writing this, and anyway, and then they came to Seattle, and the only job he can get was in General Hospital Seattle as a janitor. So then I understand he got bleeding nose, so anyway Sakumas started a farm and told my parents to come to Bainbridge Island. So my parents, you know, they never touched the soil. My mother played piano, violin and something that we never got to do and so they came to Bainbridge and we have to laugh every time, because Sakumas did so well, they had eight boys and my parents had four girls. So you can see that they weren't too successful, until he cleared up some land where they live right now, grandson lives there. And I remember I went with my father and since he had no boys, I tagged along with him when he dynamited those trees and so, but just before the war, that part of the strawberries were real good. But unfortunately they had to go away with all the rest of Bainbridge people.

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HM: Could you tell me a little bit about your life on Bainbridge before the war and Pearl Harbor?

IW: Well, I went to school, and I was the last one so I went to a school, Bainbridge High School, we had to walk which was close to two miles. And so we thought nothing of it because everybody else walked in. But if we try it now, we know how hard it must have been. Let's see, I remember my father having us get on the car, then it didn't make the hill and we had to jump up and push the car. [Laughs] So that was way down, and I was a senior when we left the island and I was the senior class treasurer, so I thought, oh boy, I get to go to senior ball and everything because even if I didn't get a date, I would be there to collect the money. But, unfortunately, the war came about and that was about the time, we couldn't go. But Mr. Dennis was such a nice person, he tried to get the government, army, that pick all the Japanese kids, there were thirteen of us, and so it was one of the largest Japanese groups, and he wanted us to go to the senior prom. And he asked the army and the army said absolutely not, so we couldn't go. And we had the senior sneak, and lots of things coming in the springtime, and we got to go to camp. And we didn't know where the camp was going to be. We could carry just two suitcases, and nowadays, the suitcases are large but the suitcases we carried were small. And so that's when we went to Manzanar, we didn't know where we were going, but we went there. Do you want more of my background?

HM: Yes.

IW: Okay. We went to school, and we went to Japanese school after our regular school. And Monday and Wednesday and Friday after school, so once in a while we'd go and pick some of the grapes, grew grapes. And he brought those to the Japanese students so we wouldn't go stealing it or anything. And we ate grapes, and they were very good. And we also went to another place, I don't know who they were but they had lots of trees, apple trees, pomegranates and pears and everything, and so we went to first ask them if we could take some apples, and she said, "Oh, you can go ahead and take it." And we tried, another time, shall we go? And she said it's okay, but she probably thought one time but we thought for all the time, because when we climbed the tree and when we hear the door open, then we all fly out of there, so I had many dresses, we didn't wear pants in those days, so dresses were, my mother found that had holes in it. So that's how we were. We felt guilty if we didn't ask every time but we thought we don't have to ask every time because she'll be bored. So we go, but when the door opened we fled, so that meant something. And we would pick flowers on the way to school and sometimes we'd get kind of late and we'd rush down and we'd give the flowers to the teachers you know, so we did a lot of pranks and things.

Well, my mother used to make, when I come home, she had omusubi with nori, you know, because they had Japanese food for lunchtime but breakfast we always had mush or potatoes, and evening was American dishes. My dad liked that, so I didn't get the chance to eat so much Japanese food, because they had it during lunch, but she made me onigiri. And I had dogs all my life and they were wonderful. We had miniature fox terriers I think from Kitamoto family. And Teddy was my favorite. During, before evacuation Teddy was my dog, we had Teddy and Minnie, and Michi and I shared a bedroom, so we... cold mornings we'd send the dogs in first. And when you get warmed up, and our feet, and they used to sleep like people, you know, in the middle, and put their chin up and put the sheets up. And so when we had evacuation, we just didn't want to, we could have hidden her, him, he was so small. Minnie passed away with a birth and Teddy was the only child. And so the soldiers, we had one soldier to a family, and they came and, oh, Teddy was at the window and looked at us and cried and we cried too, because we couldn't take him. And later on, people from California brought their dogs, but poor Teddy, I think it was two and a half weeks later, our Filipino that stayed in our home wrote and said that Teddy died of a broken heart, loneliness. He wouldn't eat anything, so... what else?

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HM: Do you remember anything about what you were doing or how you heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and how did it affect your family?

IW: I guess we were in Sunday school at the old Baptist church and we could hardly believe it. We went home and put the radio on and it was, we were having a war. And for a while, we didn't know what to do but we were saying we're Americans so we don't have to worry, but it wasn't that way, and soon after, my father was taken because he was, he always did so much for the community. We went to see him in Seattle and he was like a prisoner, because the gates, immigration office or whatever you call it, and they had a gate like a jail and he can only speak in English. And they monitored us or they were right there, and it was difficult. So anyway we felt like he was in prison, you know. So when 9066 or whatever that was, we had to evacuate in six days, not even a week. But my mother and the four girls, and she had to make decisions, rightfully or wrongly.

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IW: So we thought that was unfair but we had to ride the train, Eagledale, we got there everybody marched to their own place. We had one soldier look after our family and we went to Seattle and the train was waiting for us, and we still didn't know where we were going. And just two suitcases, whether it was warm weather or cold weather, we didn't know what it was, we had to... and when I used to go to the high schools and speak, I would ask them, we were carrying two suitcases, I wonder how many jeans could we have put in there. And they get attentive and listen, you know, because, oh, yeah, you didn't know where you were going, and they would really take charge and listen to us. So that's what it was. It took us three days by train to go to California, that's where we found we were going. When we got to Lone Pine, we got to go on a bus then, and then when we finally got to our destination, it was Manzanar. And I swear, to this day, it was sagebrush, all over. And our first meal was rice, canned spinach, canned wieners, and we had pudding, bread pudding. It wasn't anything good, just like bread that was crushed. And I swore that they gave us sagebrush, that they must have cooked sagebrush. And we never ate canned spinach either, because we were raised on Bainbridge Island, you had fresh everything. And so we, it was canned spinach, and then canned wiener too, We never heard of canned wieners and it was not good. And to this day, just like recently, I have tasted bread pudding. Everybody says it's so good, and I tried and it was good. But what we had wasn't good and no wonder everybody started to gain weight because we had all starches. [Laughs]

Oh, and the soldiers that took us, you know, we got to be friends now, for two, three days, day and night you were with them and they cried when they saw what we had to go through, and because we had homes, and they weren't fancy but they were nice homes, and here we are and army huts, they were, and so, and we cried too, but they were from, most of them were from Brooklyn and they said, "Oh, you people speak well," and I would say they spoke like we "lawffed and lawffed to see the cawff come down the pawth and men in the hawff," they would talk like that, and so, we were now buddies, you know. So that's what our first impression of Manzanar was. They did have no, it's army barracks, but windows was open, and we wondered, my goodness, fresh air, you know, maybe it's hot so we'll get... we were issued pea coats, and also goggles, and we thought, why are they selling, they were First World War things, and the food utensils, they were still from the First World War. And we soon knew what they meant because the windows were put in after awhile, the floors just were seeping dust storm. The first dust storm, we wore goggles, and so we knew why they issued us goggles, and then pea coats, later on, we were right below Mount Whitney, and so we knew why they... because it got so cold. And of course we could only carry two suitcases and our clothes were not for the cold weather. And then we managed to make friends with others and it was good to be with some other people. So I guess I'll stop there. I don't know... do you want me to go on?

HM: Oh, yes, of course, we're going to try to get all we can.

IW: And we had regular, oh, we didn't have to go to school, and the school was supposed to send us our assignments but they didn't know what to send us, it was a little here and a little there for a senior, so they decided we all had credits enough that we could graduate. And on the same day that our classmates in Bainbridge graduated, we did too, in a rec hall, we, "Pomp and Circumstance" and had a record that played. And we marched to that and it was really a sad time, because there were thirteen of us, and to this day, we feel that we missed out on the best years of our life, grade school. But anyway, we soon met with people and had other friends. And it wasn't all bad. As you say, my husband and I met in Manzanar. And I was in a play in Manzanar, and they met again in Manzanar but I really don't remember too much of what it was, but I made new friends because we all were in the same boat. And so... and when we took our sons when they were small, they thought, oh, it was exciting, they were excited they'd get to go to Manzanar. And when we got there, there was nothing there except the monument. And they said, "Wow, I thought it was supposed to be so romantic and nice," and they were so disappointed. And thereafter we have people that have been writing about the World War II and the Japanese internment, we took them to Manzanar to see for themselves, and we took a couple of people that day, and some other high schoolers, I talked to them and they wrote their thesis and they got an 'A' in it. [Laughs] So I felt good that at least I was able to do it.

And recently, we went to Whitworth. It's a university now, but it was college then, in Spokane, Washington, and our son is one of the professors there. And they wanted us to come to speak to them, and he said, oh, we spoke, both of us, and not a student left. And this was not an accredited thing, it was just random that they would listen to. So he said, "Oh, gee, Mom and Dad, I was proud of you. And not even one student left." So we felt, in many cases, I was promoted from fourth grade teaching and Japanese, when they studied Japan, and I put that to the test and they got it. And later on I went around the high school in Orange County speaking about Manzanar, and first thing the students asked was, "How come you're not bitter?" And, well, what is there to be bitter about? It's the past, and so the government made mistakes, we all make mistakes. And they didn't want anything to do with Christianity or religion, but I couldn't help it. I said, "The people that helped us were Christians." And Andy, Reverend Andrews and his Blue Box, it's just about falling apart, he made how many trips to Minidoka. Because he felt sorry for the Japanese, and he felt almost like a Japanese because I've been on camping trips with him out at Mount Rainier and everything, and he's been such a joy to have. And people that took our furnitures, and we didn't have much good furnitures, but anyway, they were Lions people that just got married. And so things were cared for. And when we went back, my parents had their house anyway to stay. So I always say it wasn't all bad.

But another thing that we saw, that Bainbridge people were so envious of us, the same classmates that we left in '42, they said, "You guys got to go all over. You seem to have flourished." And here we moved from one, five miles to another area. And so we felt good. But they said, "We missed out on everything," and it's true, when you consider. Because after the war, we traveled all over. And so I can only say that for us, it was a good thing. Because we were, we talk about it, it's not things that it's pitiful or bitter because they said, once they said they didn't even care to listen to me because they had, one week they had an Indian woman speak, and she was so bitter. And they thought I would be more bitter. Then when I started out with, "Well, I carried two suitcases. How many jeans would fit in a suitcase?" Now remember, we didn't know where we were going, because we didn't know if it was to a cold area or hot area or where. And that alerted the kids to ask questions, and they felt freer with what I had to say. So that was good.

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HM: Did your family come straight back to Bainbridge or was your family spread out to... after you left camp?

IW: Yes. My older sister was married, and I went right away out from camp. Minidoka I was there just two months or so, not even that. And I went out to Chicago not knowing anyone there. I thought, "Wow, I'm brave," come to think of it, at nineteen. And I didn't even tell my Hide, my husband, because I know he wouldn't want me to go, and he would go himself first. So he was in Idaho picking beets and all those things, so I left, and I didn't tell him. And the first time I went, it was a hostel. Before that, it was Dr. Thomas from New York, and he was a Baptist, I think, secretary for all the churches. And he told my mother that my father's still out in a prison camp, and he told him that I could have a job there as a clerk or something and come out to New York. And I thought about it, and I thought, well, New York is kind of far, so I chose Chicago. And I went out not knowing anybody. The first Sunday I went out was to church, and I met a man, and to this day, I think of him. Heller, Mr. Heller, and told me to come down to the USO office. He was the head of the USO in Chicago. And he called around, and so I went to Travelers Aid and got a job there as a clerk. And it was very interesting. And when I pulled up a file, I find that the children are in trouble because the father was in trouble. And it goes down to the caseworker invariably, so I started to learn a lot.

And they did want to send me to Chicago, and I was at Reverend Norry's home as just someone to help with cooking and breakfast, get it lined up before I went to work. And they had four girls also, and now we had four girls and I became the fifth one, but I was the oldest of them all. [Laughs] So I felt at ease at their family. And I had many friends come, and later we got an apartment, and there were four girls of us in that apartment. And so many of my friends would come out for the -- oh, first time trying to find work, and I helped them. But before that, I went back for my sister's wedding to Minidoka. And while I was in all brown, brown shoe and a suit and a hat, and I looked okay, so oh, my friends' mothers thought, "Oh, she could get a job, then I want to send my daughter out." So many of the daughters came to our apartment to find something and then I helped them that way, and I was happy.

I remember, okay, when he came out later, my husband-to-be, and he found out that his classification was 1-A before he got to camp, and in camp it was 1-C, "enemy alien." But so anyway, we have to laugh about it now, but when he got out, then he got drafted. So we got married in 1945, it's sixty-two years, we finished our sixty-two year anniversary. Do you want me to go on?

And I remember we came back to Manzanar, and the war was over that next day, oh, that day it was over. And we heard the Isseis crying, and "what's going to happen to us?" Because they were now older, lot of 'em didn't have their homes, and so we told them, "Something will come up. You came here and you got your vacation," or something. But they didn't believe it until they put on the radio, what do call it? Radio from Japan and they heard Hirohito talk and say that the war, they lost the war in Japan. And so that's where we went to Manzanar. And to think that Manzanar was gorgeous, the plants, the flowers, the little lake that they had, little pond, and it was like a different place than when we arrived at first. And it's the same way in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian, they had a Manzanar picture, you go into that base itself, and we said, "Oh, we didn't have it this good." Everything more comfortable, and it's a fairly large area. They had the thought that they would just have it for two years. But we went back another time when it was still there. So I'm sure it's still there now. It was something good for them. And we took his mother to see his side of the family to where he would go. And when we got to L.A., my husband wanted a haircut, and he went into a barbershop, and they said to him, "We don't serve Japs." So that was really something we didn't expect. And so he got a haircut from some Japanese friend later on anyway.

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HM: Could we get back to when you graduated, and after you heard about our evacuation -- I should say before you graduated -- when you heard about the evacuation and you were in school, how were you treated by your classmates and what happened between that time and the time that you left? Did some of your friends come to see you off?

IW: They were wonderful. They were sorry that that happened, and they themselves didn't know how to act. So. But only six days, we were so busy, they had curfew time from seven to seven or six to something like that. And so we didn't have so much time to be with other people because we were getting ready for ourselves not knowing what to expect. And when the schoolmates, many of them took the day off from school and came to Seattle even to see us leaving. And lots of people came out, because we were the first people to leave, and that was a novelty. And so they didn't know what to say. They thought we're Americans, too, just like them, but they're putting us away, and they thought it was... the teachers were wonderful. Mr. Dennis and Pop Miller and everybody just was, they even wrote to us and they sent wire to us, I mean, our graduation. And so I can't say anything that they were against us. They weren't. Because that Dennis felt that we should go to the prom. That's something everybody looks for. But the army says no, we can't. And we had others to share our burdens, so it really wasn't as bad as people would say, because the people were kind to us, not nasty like some people met with nastiness. And oh, and we got to see Mt. Shasta early in the morning. We looked up and that Mt. Shasta was beautiful. [Laughs] So we, I think we thought of the affirmative, we thought of favorable things than the ugliness of it, and we made the most of it.

HM: Do you remember the assembly that Mr. Dennis had with the students when we heard about the evacuation?

IW: Oh, yes. He told the students that, "This is war and people make mistakes," that we're Americans, too, and so I think we had... in an affirmative way, and not negative way. And all the teacher, as far as I'm concerned, they were that way, too. Nobody was, say, against us. They're going to lose so many students, the class was only fifty-five, and they're losing thirteen of them. And one girl told me later that she was glad that we went, because she said, "Now I'm graduating with honors when I couldn't do it when you people were there." So she said, "I lucked out." [Laughs] So we had fun thinking about those things and what little ways they think.

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HM: Do you remember any, you said your father was taken away, do you remember anything about it, when they came to your house and what went on at that time?

IW: Yeah. They said... see, in our house we had my uncle's picture, and he was in the cavalry in Japan, and then we had, my mother's side was in the service. And my father was, his father was a doctor. So, and my father used to help people read when they had their Japanese letters and so forth, he helped them out and told them, reading it. And I think a lot of that went on. So he was taken. And it was like a prison because it was in the... what was it, immigration building, and we had people stand there when we talked. So we can talk in English, we talked to him in English, maybe he didn't understand. If it was Japanese, it would have been much easier for us and them, too.

HM: What did your family do to prepare to leave other than packing the suitcases and getting your... in whose hands did you put your farm, and you mentioned something about leaving some things with friends. Could you tell me a little bit more about that?

IW: Well, there was, in six days, and you couldn't go very far, so... it was, you couldn't help other people. We were all women, I mean, Mom and her four daughters. So all we had to do was try to do the best for our family. And people, yeah, some Caucasians tried to help us, but they didn't know what to do either. So we just knew that we had to carry two suitcases and that's all. And the Filipino crop and everything went, it was April 1st. Oh, we arrived in Manzanar April 1st, so I said, "Oh, it must be a big joke. It's April 1st, we're not gonna stay here." Well, we were to stay.

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HM: Why did your family leave? Did they have a special reason for leaving Manzanar and going to Minidoka? There were some families who stayed in Manzanar.

IW: Oh, yeah. Well, naturally we didn't have any, like lot of families had relatives. And we were surprised that the government okayed that. We didn't think it would happen. And we didn't have any relatives, so it didn't matter, but where the group goes, then we would go. Because we liked Manzanar as it was, and if they told us not to, we can go, we would have stayed, too, but we had nothing to stay for or nothing to go up to Minidoka, but I think Manzanar must have, maybe... well, I don't know. Better place, or it was still the same. Now we had the mud and snow and things that we had to contend with.

Well, I'll tell you one thing funny. When we got to Minidoka, our boys, California, there's one certain area that they wear zoot suits and hair slick and so forth, our boys decided to. And I happened to be at the office that same day they came in as zoot suiters, and everybody got scared and they hid under their desk and everything else. And I'm saying, "Oh, these boys are not what you think they are. They're just playing, put out to scare you." And so then it was okay, but I think the girls were frightened when they came with zoot suits, and here I am, whole bunch of boys. And that was really a funny thing for us to see. [Laughs]

HM: What other memories do you have about Minidoka? What did you do to pass your time and what did your mother do to pass her time?

IW: Well, I didn't have much time, but I worked in the hospital with the little children. And so I just, there were still my girlfriends, and we all, I have many friends in Seattle then, too, I looked them up. But two months is not much time to do... because I left early.

HM: And your mother?

IW: Oh, my mother? Well, she found things to do, maybe writing or knitting and things like that. And it was really a vacation for a lot of the Isseis. They never took time out to go far or someplace, but I think it was good for the Isseis at that time, that they made what was their time to count. So many of them did handwork and they got to take singing and writing and everything else that they missed. But I wasn't too long in Minidoka. I don't know too much about that.

HM: Did the "loyalty questionnaire" affect you or anyone in your family?

IW: Did the which...

HM: The "loyalty questionnaire."

IW: Yeah. If you don't... yeah, you have to say you're loyal. We weren't so much affected as the boys, because to them, they had to go to war then. I think some people said you shouldn't sign that, because... but I don't... out of loyalty to this country, they did sign affirmatively.

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HM: What did you finally do after the war?

IW: Pardon me?

HM: What did you do after the war?

IW: Well, see, I was settled in Chicago already and I had a job with the Travelers Aid which I liked. And they thought that I should go on to school, and that's my first intention. But you know, when you're starting a job, and you have to think of yourself, your feeling, and no one is paying your bills and all, so I did go to the lawyer family. Oh, first of all, I got to tell you, when we were in the hostel, we met some of the girls my age, and we thought we would try to get an apartment, so we trudged everywhere they have open. They just, "Oh, we just, someone just bought it, so we have no vacancy." So we knew why, and many of the people would say, "Oh, gee, you girls seem like nice girls, and I'd love to have you, but," it's always "but," "the others might care, and they might run out on us." And so we knew what. But the third day, lucky day, we found one that said, "Oh, we'd love to have you girls," and we thought, oh, hooray, so we picked it without really certain. Well, it had a place to cook and they had two other bedrooms or something like that, and so we took it. And when we stayed there one day when the Elevated was running, and when you stood there, we saw that, when we were taking off our clothes at night, the Elevated comes, and the blind, blind goes zoomed up, and we knew were welcome to this place. We thought, "Oh, we can't live like that," where the window is open and just, every time the Elevated comes in, we're in the, seeing it. So we went and asked for our money back, that we couldn't stay there.

Anyway, and the awfulest part was when I was being interviewed for a job in the Army Engineers, this was a government job, and when I went there, the FBI interrogated me by the hour. And they said, "You didn't tell me that you went to Japan in 1929." "Well, you didn't ask me in the first place, and yes, I have... well, I was six years old." They really give you the one, the kind one, and the other one is a mean one. And then another thing they said, "Well, you didn't say you were in an apartment," and I don't know what. It just came to me that, "I don't have to tell you that because I didn't live there for six months." And I said, "Well, I only tried three days, we got it, one day. So three days, I don't think it counts as your residence." I don't know what made me say that, but that was the right answer. And they said, and then, what do you know? I leave my address book. The first name on there is Amatatsu, that's my maiden name. And my father has where he's interned. [Laughs] So I thought, "Oh, my gosh, I left my..." but they sent it to me right away. And when the Freedom of Information Act came in, I did send for my, what they had about me. Mine was pretty big. I tried my husband's, too, and his was more, smaller. But they had everything in there. But they knew me more than I knew myself. [Laughs]

HM: Okay. How did the war and relocation change your life?

IW: It made me grow up a lot faster. I had to make decisions for myself, and I made good decisions. I was always the Sunday school help, to make your choices. When I worked for the government, every lunchtime, when certain people are leaving, we have our little luncheon place, ladies would all go out and they spend more than their allotted forty-five minutes to an hour and they would drink in the middle of the luncheon. And I wasn't a drinker, so I didn't drink, and one day they were saying, "Oh, don't you start drinking because we depend on you." Because I had to tell them, "We got to go back." Well, there's no more of those lunches. Because even if I wasn't drinking, I'd tell 'em, "Let's go back, it's way past our time to..." so that was another area, so it made me more of a... well, a leader, say. I wasn't into all those things, so I think it helped.

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HM: You know about our memorial, the project that we're doing. What do you feel about this memorial? What are your thoughts about this?

IW: Oh, I think it's good. But I was disappointed, I went today, this morning, and it's just a tori with what you have. I have, this one is the memorial in Washington, D.C. and theirs was completed.

HM: This is just the first phase.

IW: What?

HM: This is just Phase 1. We're just beginning.

IW: Yes. But it's been quite some time. Last time I was here, you had that at the postal office. So I thought, well, it has been... and it was just a little building-like things. And so I was thinking, well, it really hasn't gone much. [Laughs]

HM: What do you think we should include in this? Since we're just beginning this, what sort of things do you envision having included in this memorial and what types of things would you like to see there?

IW: Well, what we went through, that daily life. Have you been to the one in Independence, California, that museum? Well, they have all sorts of things, like mochitsuki and pictures of camp life and what it was. And so you have variety, just everyday things there. And I think you can do likewise. Many people have. I know Nobi Omoto kept all the clippings and all that. And it's nice to see. And we went to that one in Independence, and it was nice that people donated what they had. And you can sort out, and if it's too much, then everything... if it's the same thing over and over, you don't want too much of that. But we went to that and we had to laugh, because he was an editor at one time, but we couldn't find his name in anything. And here we looked up, and sports said, and my name was there as a shortstop. [Laughs] So we had to laugh. But it's everyday things that maybe everybody would be interested in. What you did and where you... you could get all kinds of information, because it just didn't, the class that, '42, that graduated, to us it was a big thing. And yet, we're not recognized at all. Because "Pomp and Circumstance" goes on and we watch. You'd think that it must have been a hundred years ago. [Laughs] So little things, too, that people remember.

HM: We expect visitors from all over the country and all over the world to come to this memorial eventually. Now, what are some of the things you would like them to take away with them, or what thoughts and things would you like them to learn?

IW: Well, Bainbridge Island is just one face that you could put everything in, because even the amount of people that lived here, it's so small when you consider the large portion. Even, yeah, like mochitsuki is one of the things that people really enjoy, and we didn't have taiko drummers or anything, but just everyday things I think people will grasp and say, "Oh, gee, I never realized that." Just the thought that we had ticks in our, for our bedding. Nobody thinks that. They think we had our beds and everything, and it was comfortable. I'm sure Minidoka was the same way, the sandstorm, muddy, theirs was muddiness because I remember that part. But just something like that is really -- they had those Dutch clobbers as shoes, and those are the things that makes a difference, because that's different from Manzanar. Even though the wind blows and all that, but we didn't have the mud and all, and the shoes that they wore. We had the zoot suiters, but nothing that... so you have a lot of things to work on. I think I might write something to you for future that you might want to have. Because it's been a long time since it happened to us. And we get more forgetful as the years go by.

[Interruption]

HM: Did your family take the Bainbridge Review or receive the Bainbridge Review while you were in camp?

IW: Yeah, we always took the Bainbridge Review. And I wished my sister would send me some news of Bainbridge Island. I hear from other people, and I looked forward to it. In fact, last night, I went to the motel and I read everything about Bainbridge Island. Well, it doesn't feature anything about Japanese or what, but I still think it's dear to my heart. Let's see, what else was I gonna say? It just came to my mind. Yeah. Is there anything else that you --

Off camera: Something about the importance of the Review when you were in camp? Did you read the Bainbridge Review while you were in camp?

IW: Yes, uh-huh.

HM: How important was it to you to receive news from home?

IW: Oh, it was important. I liked to hear what happened and all this.

Off camera: Were you aware of the attempt by Lambert Skyler to prevent the Japanese from returning to Bainbridge?

IW: Yes, uh-huh.

Off camera: Was that discussed among...

IW: I just thought it wouldn't be the people in general. That's just one person. And they always had one in every city that didn't want people to come back. But when I came back, he went overseas then, and I came back to Bainbridge, people welcomed me. It was just like I had never left, you know. It's the same thing. I worked in Fifth Avenue housing project, War Authority housing, and they treated me no differently. Just treated me as just one of them. And I felt that I didn't have that prejudice like he had when he couldn't get a haircut in California, in Los Angeles.