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gky: That's Harry and this is Ken. The date is December 13th, the year 2000 in L.A. Ken, you were just talking about a communication you had from your family.

KA: I believe it was sometime in 1944, mid-1944. The Red Cross called me over and I don't know how they traced me down, but they said that they had a communication from Japan. So, I said well, my brother, older brother, should answer that question. And so they said no, your brother had received a communication and they asked me to reply. So, all they could say was that they wanted to know how we were faring, and we couldn't tell them where we were or anything, so I said we're both fine, we're both healthy, and that was it. And then the war ended and my brother, I met my brother in Tokyo, and shortly thereafter we said, let's go see the folks and the country, you know. So Harry and I went back there and I took a two-week furlough with Harry, and we came back. And after we got back, my dad told us that he just got the reply. So, it took them almost two full years to get a reply that he send out in, I think it was in 1943 sometime. So, it took a year to get to me, and it took another to get back to him. So, it was really funny. So, talking about did I know anything about Japan during the war, yes, just through that I knew that the war, you know, my dad and the family was doing okay.

gky: Harry, did the two of you have very much -- Harry, what kind of communication did you have with Ken during the war?

HA: We used to write. And Ken was even more generous with his writing because he used to draw pictures of the jungles and stuff like that, you know. He used watercolor. He was fairly artistic, you know. So, he'd always send me something that I could enjoy, but normally, it wasn't really much that we could talk about. Except, I think one time -- he doesn't remember it, but one time he wrote a letter to me saying, "Hey, what did you do?" Our friend, Seishin Kondo, had wrote to Ken saying he had saw my name come through the Pentagon. So he was worried that I was in trouble maybe, I don't know. But anyway, I think it was after that Corregidor operation that something happened, yeah. So, but anyway, we did have communication between the two of us, yeah, not much, but we knew we were doing okay, yeah.

gky: Did that keep you pretty assured that you were alive and...

HA: Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, yeah.

gky: Can you talk a little bit about paying back your father's loan after the war?

HA: Oh, yeah. You know, life is full of wonders. When I went overseas, I first went to Australia, and then I was sent into New Guinea, and the kind of functions that we did, all our records never went with us, so I never got paid. At the same time I didn't really need it because the cigarettes were free, candies are free, and, you know, you got your food and everything from the army anyway, so I really didn't need it. Then, there were no nightclubs or anything to go to. Probably the only place you could spend it was navy gambling, and I was a pretty bad gambler. So I usually was broke because I'd lose it in a crap game or something and I wouldn't have the money. But it was kind of a blessing in disguise, because here if I had the money, I'd throw it away uselessly. So it just accumulated for months, and months, and months. And I think it was about, I know it was over a year that I didn't get paid until I finally came to my parent organization and they paid me in one lump sum. But I didn't have any place to spend it, so I put it in soldier's saving. So, I had accumulated some money. And then when I met my father, I guess that was one of the reasons why he came looking for me. Well, anyway, he was in debt and because previous to the war, you know, I used to be sending them periodic money to them all the time. So, that wasn't coming in, so they were probably cash poor. So, he was in debt and je brought that subject up and naturally there it's laying there. I said, "Oh yeah, okay, I'll pay it. How much is it?" So, he told me how much it was, and after I got back I sent it. At the same time, Ken, being the kind of person he is, he felt he owed it too. I felt that I owed it because what I was sending before wasn't getting to him. I figured I owed it to him, yeah. But, one of the things that, that I did was because I come from a large family. When you grow up in a large family, all your younger siblings are almost like your own children because you kind of look after them when they need some help. The parents are not always going to be there, and so, therefore, you do have a different kind of association with your siblings. And, in my mind, the reason I used to send my father money was not so much for my father, it was because I was thinking that maybe my siblings will be suffering if I don't. And that was the primary motivation for me to keep sending it. At the same time, I think Ken felt grateful that I was able to do that. In fact, my father wanted Ken to go to work too so he could help. But I felt that in this world, without the proper education, you're going to be forever unable to come out from under the level of living without proper education. So I felt that at least Ken should have a high school education. I didn't want him to be working. So, I think he also remembered that too. So, when the opportunity came, I wanted to go back to school because of the GI bill, he stepped in and made the effort and sacrifice to go back and help the family. That's the reason why somehow, it's a large family, but the greatest pride I have is that we all get along so well.

gky: Ken, you then paid Harry back, or paid Harry for part of this loan. Why did you do that? What family values made you do that?

KA: Well, like Harry was saying, you know, when my Dad went back to Japan, after I returned to the United States because my sister was sick, and I knew that I had the luxury of going to a schoolboy to try to finish off my school. And I knew that Harry was sending money on a monthly basis. And when my dad said that he had something like 8,000 yen borrowed during the war, and I didn't have the immediate money at that time because during the war I didn't need the money. I had sent it in, sent it back to the guardian for safekeeping under the bond system, you know. And I thought it was about time that I stepped forward and do my part. So I told Harry that I didn't have the money now, but as soon as I got back I would, you know, reimburse him, because I knew he suffered all these years, so I figure since I'm the second oldest one, it was up to me to do something, or at least my share of it, because I didn't think it was fair that he would have to absorb all the burden of the family. So I thought it was just a natural thing to do, and he was planning to go back to school and I knew he needed the money, and I was able to, you know, give the money, so I felt pretty good. At least I felt like that I did contribute toward the welfare of the family. Up until then I couldn't do anything.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2000 Bridge Media and Densho. All Rights Reserved.