<Begin Segment 7>

JS: So we're gonna move to kind of the war years. Do you remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor, or when you first heard? What was that experience like? Where were you?

TS: You know, that day, when we heard about it, we were having an exercise, this special exercise class -- not class, but the man, teacher came from San Francisco and he was teaching us this exercise that they do in Japan. And then people, the Koyasakos used to live in the back, so they came, the girls came running over and said, "Oh, the war started." Yeah, and then the, right the next day, the teachers that came from San Francisco, they were taken away by the FBI. Right away, I heard. Our, Mr. and Mrs. Osaki, well, they weren't taken away. I guess they were up in age, so... but a lot of the old timers that lived in Clarksburg, the Sakatas, they were all taken, taken away to...

JS: The FBI picked up some of the leaders.

TS: Yeah, yeah.

DG: So your husband's parents?

TS: No, they didn't have to go. They were pretty up in age.

DG: Other Sakatas.

TS: Yeah, yeah. Like the one that, Frank Sakata, Tom Sakata, they were all taken away, and they had, they're pretty well-to-do, they owned the land there and all that.

DG: Do you know whether they were then released, or were they put in a separate prison?

TS: They were, they all went to, what is that? Is it...

DG: Crystal City.

TS: Yeah, someplace around there, I think. Not like the camps that we went to.

DG: So this exercise class, do you know the name of the...

TS: No, I can't...

JS: So it's like that Japanese exercise they do every day, that one?

TS: Yeah, yeah. With music, they have that. And then after that, well, it all disbanded and they were sent to different camps.

DG: So you were like sixteen?

TS: I was, I was a freshman, yeah.

DG: Do you remember what it was like going back to school after that happened?

TS: It was hard, 'cause I know there was some prejudiced people. Yeah.

JS: Did your teachers say anything to you?

TS: No, the teachers didn't say anything.

DG: Did other students say anything to you, good or bad?

TS: No, they didn't say anything like that. But you can feel it, there was some prejudice.

JS: So what did your parents have to do to close up the business?

TS: Farming?

JS: Uh-huh.

TS: Well, just, we told our, the landlord that we have to go. "We don't want to, but we have to go." So we went to Marysville Assembly Center. Yeah.

DG: What happened to your parents' farm equipment?

TS: I guess they gave it to the landowners, I suppose. They were real nice people.

DG: Could, do you remember their name?

TS: No, I don't. Some people really lost everything. But they said, "Oh, we'll take care of it for you," and -- the landowners -- and when you got back, well, they'd give it back to you, and some were real nice.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2012 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.