<Begin Segment 7>

TI: So let's go back to December 7, 1941. Do you recall that date and what happened that day?

YM: Yes. I was at the Japanese Student Club. We all lived at a Japanese Student Club in Berkeley. And I came downstairs to the living room and the radio was on and the guys were standing around listening to the announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. That's when we first found out about it. Of course, it was a shock, and we felt, in a way, shame because we were Japanese. And so I know I felt, walking down the street to class, I just felt that everyone was looking at me, looking at me as an enemy, I suppose. But when I went home for Christmas that year, I discovered that one of my friends who was working on a tuna boat, he was a radio operator, they had taken the entire crew and put 'em in jail, so I went to visit him in jail. We went, some of our friends went downtown to go to a restaurant and they refused us service at the restaurant. Anyway, things were pretty tense in those days.

TI: Going back to the Japanese Student Club, do you recall any discussions amongst your college classmates about what was going to happen or what should be done?

YM: I don't think any of us knew what was going to happen. We were pretty much on edge. It wasn't until February 19th, I think, when the executive order came out, that we knew that there was gonna be evacuation. Anyway, most of the guys went home and a few of us stayed behind.

TI: And when you came back to San Diego for that Christmas break, do you recall having any discussions with your parents about what might happen? You mentioned earlier that they wanted you to go back to school. You talk about kind of the uncertainty, and how many of the classmates were just going home and not going to school.

YM: I don't recall our conversation at that time. I'm sure they all, both my parents were kind of in a quandary as to what to do. I just knew that I should try to find a way to continue my education.

TI: Do you recall how your father's business was impacted by the war?

YM: Yeah. I think the business... as I remember, the business that he had didn't do very well. And I think he ended up working for another, a friend's market. That's about all I recall. He went to work for someone else.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright ©2009 Densho and the Twin Cities JACL. All Rights Reserved.