Densho Digital Archive
Topaz Museum Collection
Title: Alice Setsuko Sekino Hirai Interview
Narrator: Alice Setsuko Sekino Hirai
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Date: June 3, 2008
Densho ID: denshovh-halice-01-0005

<Begin Segment 5>

MA: So are there any other memories you would like to share, anything else about Topaz that you'd like to talk about?

AH: Well, I remember seeing Snow White for the first time and how much we all enjoyed it. I think that's when it first came out, about that time. And so we got to see that. I remember playing with my friends, I remember Tetsuden Kashima was in the same block, and I remember he was, I think he's about a year or two younger than I am, he became, later on, a professor at University of Washington in Asian Studies. Anyway, but we would play, and I remember that for some reason, he bit my finger, and I just remember screaming bloody murder. [Laughs] You don't forget things like that, you know. So now, every once in a while I'd see him at a JACL function or something, and I would always remember, remind him -- he probably doesn't remember who I am -- but I remind him. [Laughs]

MA: You remember him biting your finger. [Laughs]

AH: I just remember that his father was a Buddhist priest, minister, too. But there were two boys, and Tetsuden was the younger one. I remember the hospital that I had to have my tonsils out, and I was just really scared. And I could hear my mom's voice as they were carting me into the operating room, and I remember screaming for her, "Mom, Mom, come get me." And the next thing I knew, I was coming out of my anesthetic and I couldn't talk because they had my tonsils out.

MA: Were the doctors Japanese Americans?

AH: Yeah. You know what's amazing is that the San Francisco area, that Bay Area, is, has lots of universities, prominent, well-known universities like University of California in Berkeley and University of San Francisco in San Francisco. And they had medical schools and also nursing schools. So a lot of the Japanese were students or physicians or professors. And so when they went to Topaz, probably in the state of Utah, that Topaz had the best medical care provided in the state of Utah. And I thought, "That's so interesting," because that's true. And a lot of the young ladies that came, single ladies who came to Topaz also became nurse's aide and things like that. So I'm sure a Japanese physician operated on me. But there are some amazing stories that come out of a situation like that. So I remember that. I remember... let's see, that, and I had an aunt who was very influential in my life, and she was in the same block. She's Grace's stepmom.

MA: What was her name?

AH: Rae Fujimoto. She was my mom's sister, and my mom was very conservative, and pretty reserved and everything. She was beautiful, she spoke English and Japanese very well. But my aunt, who was five years older than my mom, was a very colorful personality, and I think Grace might talk to you about her. Anyway, she was flamboyant, dressed really well, spoke Japanese and English very well, and she was able to... what's the word? Because of her charm, she was able to get lots of things done her way. That's a diplomatic way of saying it. [Laughs] She was like that all her life. And I think about it, somebody says, "Oh, she seems like, she's like the typical ladies of that time." I says, "No, there's nobody that can duplicate my aunt."

MA: I wanted to ask you about your mother and how, during the war and your time at Topaz, did you sense that she sort of took on certain roles? I mean, I guess she was bilingual, she spoke English and Japanese, that maybe your father couldn't because of his language. Did you notice that she took over some family responsibilities or in terms of dealing with, you know...

AH: Yeah, she, I know that -- and I'm glad you brought that up, because I didn't realize, even with my mom, she had shortcomings because she had a terrible, not terrible, but she had a real hard childhood. That she, she was forced to be the strong one because my father didn't speak any English or write English, so she had to step forward. And being able to represent the family and writing down all of the form, the registration forms and all the things that you have to fill out to come to camp and all that. And also taking care of our assets back home, and also helping us establish after Topaz, so, and many years even after that. But she was the strong person as far as being knowledgeable about all the things that had to be done, so she took on a responsibility that most mothers and wives didn't have to at that time. So I give her a lot of credit for that.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.