<Begin Segment 11>

TI: So let's go to December 7, 1941. Where were you when you heard --

NH: Well, I was in class at Berkeley High School.

TI: Well, but it was on a Sunday.

NH: That was on Sunday, yeah.

TI: And you were in class on...

NH: No, I shouldn't say that. On Sunday it happened, and I don't know how I found out about it, but I found out about it I think by radio or something, or newspaper, I don't know. Anyhow, I went to school on Monday and walking along Martin Luther King all the way to school like I usually do, and then that morning we were all, we didn't have an auditorium so we all met in the gym. We were all assembled in the gym, and that's when President Roosevelt came on the air and declared war.

TI: And how did you feel, or what were you thinking when this happened?

NH: I thought, "Oh my, what's gonna happen to me now?"

TI: And what was the reaction of your classmates and teachers?

NH: Oh no, that's the thing. I was worried a little bit about the reaction of my classmates toward me, would I suffer any physical pain, get beat up or something like that, but none of that happened. It was just very quiet and when we were dismissed, we quietly walked back to our rooms, and the usual rah-rahing around, fooling around that happened after assemblies didn't occur. Everybody was quite serious. At least that's the part that struck me as being a little bit different from something else, like some other kind of assembly. And as the days wore on, well, just went along as if nothing had happened.

TI: But going back to that, that assembly, having Japanese parents, and then Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and the seriousness of it, how were you feeling? Were you confused at all, or what were some of the things going inside of your head?

NH: Oh, my own feeling was, like I said, I was somewhat apprehensive that something might happen to me after a while, or on my way home from school or... of course, on my way home from school, I went to the Japanese language school so that part was okay. In fact, our Japanese language school didn't last very long, 'cause they closed it down. And they said, "Well, it would probably be better if we didn't have it anymore." So it didn't last too long, but it was there for a little while. And then after that, then I walked home. And until evacuation I attended school regularly. It was okay.

TI: Were you aware, or did you experience any incidences of people...

NH: Yelling at me?

TI: ...hassling you or anything because you're Japanese?

NH: That's what didn't happen.

TI: And why do you think that didn't, when other parts of the country it did happen? Why not, why not in Berkeley?

NH: I really don't know.

TI: How about teachers? Any comments from teachers about what happened?

NH: Teachers didn't, I don't recall any comments by teachers or from other students. But then again, it's so long ago, I couldn't remember.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright ©2008 Densho and the Topaz Museum. All Rights Reserved.