Densho Digital Archive
Preserving California's Japantowns Collection
Title: Betty Fujimoto Kashiwagi Interview
Narrator: Betty Fujimoto Kashiwagi
Interviewers: Jill Shiraki (primary); Tom Ikeda (secondary)
Location: Sacramento, California
Date: December 8, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-kbetty-01-0018

<Begin Segment 18>

TI: So during that time after Pearl Harbor and before you left, you talked about boarding up the windows to the store.

BK: Yeah.

TI: Now, was there any attempt to, at that time, sell some of your things like the car?

BK: No. I mean, there was a rumor going around that, you know, they were gonna bomb all the Japanese stores, and we were a store. And then if we're, we had a curfew of eight o'clock, and if we're found outside, they said it was more to protect us, just like sending us to camp was for protection.

TI: And when they said that, who said that it was for your protection? Do you recall, was that a rumor or did you actually hear someone who actually said that?

BK: I think I just heard it in this conversation.

TI: How about the Chinese or the whites? Did they start treating Japanese any differently after December 7th?

BK: Yeah, I mean, they called us "Japs." And said, you know, so it's a shortcut to "Japanese, what's the big deal?"

TI: So you tried to not let that bother you.

BK: No, uh-uh.

TI: Now, did anyone say that directly to you? They used that term "Japs" directly to you?

BK: Yeah, they... you know, I think a few of my friends got rocks thrown at them, but I wasn't one of 'em.

TI: And who was doing that? Who was throwing the rocks and saying things like "Japs"?

BK: The kids.

TI: Was it both the Chinese and the whites, or just the whites?

BK: We never saw the whites, to tell you the truth. Because they were...

TI: So would this be, then, Chinese that would throw the rocks?

BK: Yeah.

TI: And how did that make you feel? Because before December 7th, it changed so much. I mean, did you think about that at all?

BK: Yeah, well, I just used to, you know, "They're ignorant and they don't know anything," and so I said, "Just ignore it." And if it's something that you need to go home and tell your parents, that they're throwing rocks at us. But I don't think they would have done anything either.

<End Segment 18> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.