<Begin Segment 16>

MN: And in 1944, Dr. Emerson got you a special permission to go out of Manzanar. How did you feel about going out by yourself?

AK: No difference.

MN: Were you not afraid for your safety?

AK: Uh-uh.

MN: Were you the first Japanese American to return to Los Angeles?

AK: That's what they said. [Laughs]

KK: No, there was another girl.

AK: Oh yeah, there was a girl, a student at...

KK: What was her name?

AK: I forgot.

KK: I forgot what her name is.

MN: I know who you're talking about... Esther?

KK: Yeah.

MN: I can't remember her last name. Nishio? Nishio?

AK: Esther Takeo.

KK: Esther...

AK: Takei...

KK: Takei, Takei I think, or something like that.

MN: She had a rough time, I think.

KK: Yeah.

MN: But your experience coming out, did people in Pasadena harass you?

AK: Uh-uh.

KK: Not around his neighborhood. They're mostly educated people.

MN: So once you left Manzanar, where did you live?

KK: With Dr. Emerson. He forgot. [Laughs]

MN: Did you live with --

AK: You mean permanent?

MN: No, when you first left Manzanar, who did you live with?

AK: Dr. Emerson's home.

MN: And then what did you do at Cal Tech?

AK: I did, went out in the field and plant the seeds and started the seeds, and I planted out there. And in the meantime, Dr. Emerson got some shrubs from Salinas and I was experimenting with it.

MN: So did you only work with the guayule plants?

AK: Uh-huh.

MN: Now, when you were working at Cal Tech and living with Dr. Emerson, did you continue to communicate with Keiko?

AK: Yeah.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.