<Begin Segment 25>

TI: When you came back, how did Walnut Grove look? I mean, this was like over three years?

WM: Different.

TI: About the same, you said?

WM: No, not dirty.

TI: It was dirty, a little bit dirty? How about in terms of people living in, like, the houses? Were there different people living than before? So did that, was that different?

WM: [Shakes head]

TI: Not that much? How about the other parts of Walnut Grove? Like the Chinese section and the white section, had those changed very much?

WM: No. Same, I think.

TI: And when you saw the Chinese and the whites, how did they treat the Japanese when they came back?

WM: They didn't say nothing. Can't help it, not our fault, right?

TI: So I'm thinking, when the Japanese first came back to Walnut Grove, it must have been hard to get started again.

WM: Yeah. They might (...) shoot us, maybe.

TI: I'm sorry, say that again?

WM: They might (shoot us maybe).

TI: Oh, so you were afraid that maybe someone might shoot you? But just starting businesses again, making a living --

WM: Later, my dad, yeah.

TI: And so how did people get started again? I mean, like your father, what did he do when he got back?

WM: Nothing. Before that, I know he opened a store again.

TI: So he got the store back, he brought his equipment and everything and started. But I'm guessing the business was pretty slow?

WM: Slow.

TI: So how did he survive? How did he make a living?

WM: I don't know. It was hard to do.

TI: And so who came back with you and your father? I mean, your mother, your father...

WM: And after that, about one week later, lot of people came back. Somebody brave to go first.

TI: So for you, when you came back, you were like the first one. Were you frightened? Were you kind of afraid?

WM: It don't bother me. But [inaudible].

TI: Okay, because you were about, I guess, almost like nineteen years old, maybe? So you were a young man, and you were there to help your father with this.

WM: Yeah.

TI: When the two of you came back, did your father ever say anything to you about what to expect or how to think about things?

WM: [Shakes head]

TI: Okay.

WM: My brother was in uniform, too.

TI: I'm sorry, your brother did what?

WM: Uniform. So army uniform, he came to Walnut Grove, but...

TI: So which brother is this?

WM: Yosh.

TI: Yosh? So your brother, after he was released...

WM: Yeah, then he came to...

TI: He came with his uniform.

WM: Yeah.

TI: And what was the reaction of people when they saw him in uniform?

WM: They didn't say anything.

TI: So going back to Yosh, do you ever talk to Yosh about being a prisoner of war and what that was like?

WM: He didn't like it.

TI: Was it hard? Did he, like, lose lots of --

WM: Yeah, he got home, so he drink too much now.

TI: When you first saw him, did he lose lots of weight? Was he kind of thin or was he, did he look the same?

WM: I forgot. He looked the same to me.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright (c) 2009 Densho and Preserving California's Japantowns. All Rights Reserved.