Densho Digital Archive
Steven Okazaki Collection
Title: Chizuko Iyama - Ernie Iyama Interview
Narrators: Chizuko Iyama, Ernie Iyama
Location: El Cerrito, California
Date: December 11, 1983
Densho ID: denshovh-ichizuko_g-01-0004

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CI: One of the most difficult periods in camp was the time when we all had to, I guess it was in April, wasn't it about... I remember somewhere around there, March or April of 1943, when we had to put together, they put together a package for people who wanted to leave the camp, had to sign certain kinds of declarations and also people who are volunteering for the army and the draft registration all went in at the same time. And it created a lot of problems in camp. I was working with social services at that time and so I sat in on a lot of the family discussions that people were having. It was very difficult. Because mixed into was a lot of the bitterness that people felt about what had happened to them in evacuation, the uncertainty of what was going to happen to them in the future, the feeling that we should not sign any declaration that says that we are willing to forswear allegiance to Japan because there were some people for whom it would mean that they would have no land if anything should happen to, you know, in the future in the war. And so there were a lot of mixed feelings at that time and I could see a lot of tragedies that were developing. There were instances, for example, of people who had children in Japan and therefore wanted to check to make sure that their children were okay, but at the same time, they wanted to stay in the United States. And I know of one family where, you know, the families just separated along those lines. People who were gonna stay and people who had to go back to Japan, not because they were disloyal, but because they had family that they had to check on. We had instances where the parents were very discouraged about what had happened to them and therefore did not want their children to volunteer for the army. At the same time, we had people who were very strong about demonstrating loyalty and therefore joining the army. And so the whole camp was put into a terrible situation because people could not under the circumstances make what they think is a wise and reasoned decision. That was very difficult, and I saw families split as a result of it. And I've talked to some people who've told me that even today, they just don't talk about that period because it was so painful to them.

EI: Yeah, I think the government made a mistake on that because they didn't look into it before they made up the questionnaire, so they just sprung this questionnaire on the people. And as Chiz was saying, there was a lot of confusion because, you know, you had feelings about trying to be loyal, and on the other hand, certain members of the family wanted to go to Japan and then, of course, the other thing was the Isseis, if they renounced their, what they said, loyalty to the Japanese emperor, that means that they would be citizens without a country. No citizens here, no citizenship here, and no citizenship in Japan. And so there was a lot of confusion and even among the Nisei, there was a lot of confusion because they didn't know exactly what to do because they felt that this was their country and they wanted to fight for it, yet they had feelings for their parents, too, you know. And so that was one of the reasons why there was so much dissension in the camp around that time around this question of whether you answered "no-no" or "yes-yes."

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 1983, 2010 Densho and Steven Okazaki. All Rights Reserved.