<Begin Segment 3>
MN: Now let me get into the war years. Do you remember December 7, 1941, at all, that Sunday?
SH: Not really. Not that particular one day.
MN: So you don't remember if the atmosphere in your family changed?
SH: No.
MN: And then once your family found out that they had to go into camp, how did your family prepare to go? What did they do to their furniture and their dishes?
SH: Well, I don't know about the furniture, but I remember them getting all our dishes together, and there was a (...) church right next door (...) on the corner of San Pedro and Jackson. So what my mother did was she got all the things (...) and she put 'em all on the steps and I had to sit there and watch it. (...) And the furniture, I don't remember seeing any of the furniture, (...) so I guess my folks got the permission (...) to store it in the church basement, and they said, "(...) We'll keep an eye on it until, (...) so just leave it there and we'll keep an eye on it until (...) you decide to come back." So we did, we stored (...) things in the basement. By the time we came out of camp I think most of it was gone. Whatever was of value, somebody took it.
MN: Did your mother, like, sew duffel bags for the family to take to camp?
SH: I don't remember her making 'em, but after we came out of camp, I remember we had a lot of bags (...) with our name on it, and I think my father had the block number (...). She had made some duffel bags, like you said.
MN: Can you share with us the story of Mrs. Suzuki and her (Chihuahua)?
SH: (...) She was a neighbor of ours and she wanted to take her (Chihuahua). Her (Chihuahua) was her little baby, (Chibi), she was trying to train it not to bark (...), and she was gonna hide it underneath her coat (...). Anyway, and she's gonna take it to camp, so when I'd go over there she'd be trying to train (Chibi) to be quiet and not make any noise. (...) She was doing that, and then near the end I asked her how's everything, "You'll all ready to go?" And she said yeah, but, "You know what?" (...) "I don't think, after all this that I've gone through," she said, "I don't want to take a chance 'cause they'll just take the dog away." (...) What she did with it (I don't know), but she didn't take the dog with her into camp. (...)
MN: You also mentioned that -- this is from your husband's side?
SH: Uh huh.
MN: Your husband's sister gave you this photo portrait, and in the back there's a cutout area. What happened to this family portrait?
SH: Well, I found out later, (...) it was a picture of Hirohito, the emperor (of Japan) hanging on the wall and they didn't want them to see it, so that's why (...) there there's a cutout. (...) They just cut that part of it out and were able to save the picture (...).
MN: So all they did is, they have this family portrait and they wanted it --
SH: And in the corner, (...) they cut it out, so they just left it like that. (And) I still have the picture (...).
MN: And so that's how they were able to take that picture to camp.
SH: I guess that's why they were able to save it. (...)
MN: Now, did your parents burn Japanese books or photos?
SH: I never saw them do that.
<End Segment 3> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.