Densho Digital Archive
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community Collection
Title: Victor Takemoto Interview
Narrator: Victor Takemoto
Interviewer: Joyce Nishimura
Location: Bainbridge Island, Washington
Date: October 7, 2006
Densho ID: denshovh-tvictor-01-0002

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JN: When you heard of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, do you remember what some of your parents' concerns were, what, how did they feel? What did they express to you and your sisters?

VT: Can I start now?

Male voice: Yes, start.

VT: Yeah, they were concerned because they weren't citizens and they didn't know for sure what might happen if there was actually a war from, say, from the coast. As they started to come, come to Seattle, they thought that they may get put away someplace so that they wouldn't interfere with the, with the invasion if there was one. I think that was about the only concern. They weren't citizens so they knew that there wasn't much they can do about it. Pretty much had to do what government said you had to do. And that was probably the main concern. They knew that we were, the kids were all citizens, so we didn't think that if there was an evacuation that we would be taken with the... my parents. But as it turned out, we were all put in together when we were evacuated.

JN: So, was that farm that you had on the island, was that in your name then? Or, how did that work?

VT: It was in my stepsister's name. I was only fifteen so I couldn't own any property. But after the war, when I turned eighteen, it was turned in, over to my name, and we still have the property there. [Pauses] Let's see... I probably could say a little more about the day that the, December 7th. And as I recall, that was a Sunday, and we were glued to the radio and we heard that Pearl Harbor was bombed. We had relatives there in Honolulu so we were doubly concerned. But as it turned out, everything was okay, they were far away from the, the bombing. We didn't do much. I don't think that my parents called anyone. Just glued to the radio, see what was going on.

<End Segment 2> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.